I CONFIDEN 
I CHATS  WITH 

i WILLIAM  LEE  HOWA,: 


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Confidential  Chats  with  Girls 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 
WITH  GIRLS 


BY 

4 

WILLIAM  LEE  HOWARD,  M.D. 

Author  of 

“Plain  Facts  on  Sex  Hygiene,”  “Confidential  Chats  with  Boys,”  Etc. 


New  York 

Edward  J.  Cl  ode 

Publisher 


COPYRiaHT,  1911,  BY 
EDWARD  J.  CLODE 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  How  TO  Develop  into  Woman- 


HOOD 

3 

II. 

A General  Chat 

14 

III. 

The  Disorders  of  Menstruation 

AND  General  Health 

32 

IV. 

The  Care  of  the  Skin  and  Com- 

plexion   

51 

V. 

Nerves  and  the  Nervous  Girl  . 

76 

VI. 

How  TO  Get  Will  Power 

89 

VII. 

How  TO  Keep  Attractive  . 

99 

VIII. 

Some  Donats  .... 

115 

FOREWORD 


The  American  girl  from  fourteen  to  eighteen 
years  of  age  has  been  sadly  neglected  in  the 
most  important  and  necessary  part  of  her 
education. 

Knowledge  of  unessentials  and  nursery  physi- 
ology, along  with  a smattering  of  academic 
teachings,  have  held  her  apart  from  a true  ap- 
preciation of  her  real  value  to  herself  and 
humanity.  Physical  exercise  and  moral  admo- 
nition have  been  given  her,  but  not  advice  nor 
instruction  which  was  based  upon  the  proper 
foundation — sex  development. 

Details  of  sex  hygiene  have  been  kept  from 
her,  and  these,  with  the  care  of  woman’s  great- 
est jewel,  maternal  possibilities  through  a per- 
fect sex  growth,  have  all  been  left  to  chance 
and  too  often  sad  experience. 

The  girl  is  no  longer  completely  protected 
by  the  old  home  influences.  To-day  she  is  out 
in  the  world  alone,  struggling  for  herself  and 
frequently  for  others.  The  high-school  girl 
seems  to  be  left  in  the  same  whirlpool  of 
moving  men  and  things,  and  just  now  there  are 
unpleasant  revelations  of  the  fact  that  she 

vii 


viii  FOREWORD 

needs  care  and  instruction  more  than  her  work- 
ing sisters. 

I have  seen  in  private  and  hospital  practice 
thousands  of  girls  whose  health  was  ruined 
for  life  through  ignorance  or  false  ideas  con- 
cerning sex  activities.  The  land  is  crowded 
with  suffering  wives  and  broken-down  girls 
whose  woeful  conditions  are  due  entirely  to 
ignorance  of  sex  hygiene  and  how  to  mentally 
and  physically  care  for  their  sex  development. 

If  I can,  by  my  humble  efforts,  stop  the 
future  mothers  from  suffering,  worry  and  ill 
health,  from  bringing  their  daughters  up  in  a 
state  of  criminal  prudery,  I shall  be  proof 
against  the  slings  and  arrows  of  the  fast-dis- 
appearing SHAM. 

In  these  CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS  I 
tell  in  plain  language  and  facts  the  things  that, 
had  they  been  told  to  the  girls  of  the  last 
generation,  would  have  saved  untold  misery. 

It  is  a pity  that  the  facts  and  instruction 
which  should  come  from  a mother  and  a father 
'(due  quite  largely  to  their  own  ignorance), 
must  be  sought  elsewhere,  but  this  being  so, 
I intend  that  these  Chats  shall  supply  what 
prudery  and  ignorance  have  denied  the  girls 
of  to-day. 

William  Lee  Howard,  M.D. 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 
WITH  GIRLS 


CHAPTER  I 

HOW  TO  DEVELOP  INTO  WOMANHOOD 

The  little  buds  on  the  rosebushes  seen  in 
the  warm  spring  days  and  which  later  on  in 
the  early  summer  open  to  become  the  beautiful 
flowers,  are  controlled  and  governed  in  their 
development  by  the  same  laws  of  Nature  that 
control  your  development  from  the  little  girl  to 
a budding  girl,  and  then  into  the  full  blossom- 
ing woman. 

Every  living  thing  upon  this  earth  is  given 
life,  growth  and  development  under  laws  that 
are  the  same  for  the  girl,  the  woman,  the 
flowers,  the  fishes,  the  little  birds.  The  supreme 
Power  which  controls  us  and  every  living  being 
has  so  regulated  the  way  man,  beasts,  birds, 
fishes  and  even  flowers  are  kept  on  the  earth 
for  the  increase  and  progression  of  the  world, 
that  by  a plain  understanding  of  these  laws 
we  can  live  and  produce  better  and  better  men 
and  women  from  generation  to  generation. 

3 


4 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


If  you  will  carefully  think  the  matter  over, 
you  will  soon  realize  that  every  living  thing 
around  us  is  the  result  of  the  mating  of  the 
male  with  the  female.  Roses  marry  and  have 
little  children  just  the  same  as  a man  and 
woman.  The  little  pussy  willow,  which  so  early 
in  the  spring  sends  out  its  little  babies  in 
furry  buds,  had  been  married  to  a willow  man 
the  year  before.  The  sweet  grapes  you  eat 
in  the  autumn  are  the  “ fruit  of  the  marriage  ” 
between  a male  grape  and  a female  grape — 
that  is,  the  seeds.  The  little  ehicks  hovering 
and  hiding  around  the  proud  mother  hen  have 
for  their  father  the  crowing  cock. 

Here  is  a good  example  of  this  absolute 
law  of  the  supreme  Power.  If  you  take  a 
few  chickens,  all  females,  and  keep  them  shut 
up  until  they  are  young  hens  with  no  rooster 
ever  disturbing  their  happiness,  you  can  never 
hatch  chicks  from  the  eggs  of  these  hens.  You 
may  put  these  eggs  under  a setting  hen  and 
she  may  sit  there  until  the  hens’  doomsday  and 
no  life  is  possible  in  these  eggs.  Now  at  the 
same  time  shut  up  chickens  with  a rooster,  and 
when  these  chickens  have  grown  to  be  hens  you 
will  be  able  to  hatch  chicks  from  their  eggs. 
If  you  take  the  eggs  from  your  first  lot  of  hens 
and  in  a dark  room  examine  their  eggs,  by  the 
aid  of  a candle,  you  will  see  only  a clear 
egg.  Now  if  you  take  an  egg  from  the  lot 


WITH  GIRLS 


5 


of  hens  who  have  had  the  rooster  for  com- 
panionship and  hold  it  up  to  a candle,  in  a 
dark  room,  you  will  be  able  to  see  a tiny  black 
or  brown  spot  about  the  size  of  a pin’s  head. 
This  is  the  vital  spot,  the  male  seed  which, 
upon  entering  the  vital  principle  of  the  female 
egg,  at  once  begins  to  develop  into  a chick. 
Three  weeks  under  the  warm  body  of  the  set- 
ting hen  causes  the  development  of  the  chick 
from  this  tiny  spot. 

The  little  black  spots  you  see  in  a mass  of 
“ frog  spittle  ” are  the  vitalizing — the  life- 
giving — seed  from  the  bullfrog.  These  male 
seeds  lie  in  the  mass  thrown  out  by  the  female 
frog.  Placed  in  some  quiet  pool  of  warm 
water,  warmed  by  the  sun,  the  hatching  goes 
on  until  the  pollywogs  are  born.  It  is  the 
same  with  the  fishes,  the  turtles — every  living 
thing — the  male  seed  must  enter  the  eggs  of  the 
female  before  life  commences.  The  playful 
puppies,  the  fuzzy  kittens,  the  butterflies,  the 
bees  are  all  brought  to  life  by  the  same 
principle. 

Always  keep  in  your  mind  that  no  matter 
what  the  different  ways  of  mating  are,  how  the 
little  flower  children  are  born,  how  the  puppies 
grow  before  birth  and  then  come  into  the 
world;  they  all  are  God’s  creations  and  made 
according  to  His  laws.  So  being  made  accord- 
ing to  God’s  laws,  and  we  as  human  beings 


6 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


having  absolutely  nothing  to  do  with  these  laws, 
but  are  controlled  by  them,  there  can  be  nothing 
wrong,  indelicate  or  shameful  in  knowing  all 
about  these  matters. 

In  fact,  before  we  can  have  full  reverence  for 
God  and  obey  His  laws,  we  must  understand 
and  know  them,  what  they  mean  to  us,  how 
we  are  punished  and  warned  for  disobeying 
these  laws  and  the  fearful  results  following 
the  abuse  of  our  bodies  and  minds  through 
ignorance  of  what  our  bodies  require  and  God 
demands. 

As  I have  told  you,  every  living  thing,  from 
flowers  up  to  babies,  is  produced  by  the  meet- 
ing of  the  male  seed  with  that  of  the  female 
seed.  Every  female,  flower  or  woman,  has  a 
place  to  keep  and  hold  these  seeds  until  they 
have  grown  to  be  babies  of  some  kind. 

Take  the  roses  for  example.  When  the 
big  rose  gets  fully  grown  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  summer,  the  little  yellow  dust  you  see 
in  the  center  is  the  male  seed.  Botanists  call 
these  male  flower  seeds  the  pollen.  At  about 
the  same  time  that  the  male  rose  is  “ going 
to  seed  ” the  female  rose  is  ready  to  take 
this  pollen  into  her  receptacle.  This  male  seed 
is  carried  to  the  female  rose’s  womb,  the  name 
of  the  organ  in  all  females  where  the  two 
kinds  of  seed  meet  and  then  grow  into  chil- 
dren. 


WITH  GIRLS 


7 


The  seed  is  carried  into  the  rose’s  womb  by 
the  wind,  insects  and  birds.  When  it  is  once 
deposited,  the  rose’s  womb  closes  tightly,  and 
there  the  seeds  of  the  two  sexes  remain  and 
grow  until  in  the  spring  you  see  the  little 
babies  in  the  buds.  These  gradually  grow, 
as  you  know,  from  the  little  colorless  buds  to 
the  small  pink  ones,  and  when  the  warm  sum- 
mer-time comes  they  burst  open  to  become  full- 
grown  male  or  female  flowers,  and  in  the  autumn 
these  marry  and  the  next  spring  become  fathers 
and  mothers  themselves. 

It  is  the  same  throughout  all  Nature.  Noth- 
ing can  become  a living  thing  except  through 
a marriage  of  the  male  with  the  female. 

Let  us  take  the  little  birds  for  another 
example.  This  will  show  you  how  the  young 
bird  comes  from  an  egg  and  is  born  almost  the 
same  way  that  you  and  I were  born — coming 
from  an  egg — for  this  is  just  what  did  occur 
in  our  case. 

The  female  birds,  and  all  female  animals, 
have  what  we  call  ovaries,  from  the  Latin 
ovum,  meaning  egg.  These  ovaries  are  placed, 
in  the  birds  and  all  animals,  in  the  deep  region 
of  the  groin,  above  the  womb  in  the  animals 
which  keep  the  eggs  inside  of  themselves  until 
the  babies  are  born.  Of  course,  the  birds, 
fishes  and  all  their  kind,  do  not  have  a real 
womb,  for  the  eggs  are  laid  outside  of  their 


8 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


bodies  in  a nest  of  some  kind.  This  nest  out- 
side corresponds  to  the  nest — the  womb — ^in- 
side of  the  higher  animals. 

All  eggs  are  formed  in  the  ovaries;  this  is 
what  the  ovaries  are  for,  and  at  first  they 
are  tiny  little  spots  seen  only  through  a micro- 
scope. At  certain  times,  like  the  mating  time  of 
the  birds,  these  eggs  drop  down  from  the  ova- 
ries, ready  to  meet  the  male  seed.  When  this  is 
accomplished  the  eggs  at  once  begin  to  put 
on  their  shells,  which,  of  course,  are  only  to 
protect  the  little  growing  birds  while  the  mother 
sits  upon  the  eggs.  As  soon  as  the  shell  is 
formed  the  eggs  are  deposited  in  the  nest,  and 
here  the  patient  mother  sits  and  waits  for  the 
little  ones  to  grow  until  ready  to  come  out  and 
see  the  wide  world. 

Then  comes  the  pretty  sight  of  the  mother 
and  father  flying  back  and  forth  from  the 
nest,  carrying  some  big  worm  or  bug  to  feed 
the  hungry  and  crying  babies.  Both  father  and 
mother  work  like  Trojans  to  keep  the  stomachs 
of  their  little  children  filled,  and  if  you  will 
watch  a pair  of  robins  trying  to  feed  their 
nestful  of  children,  you  will  say  that  they  are 
the  greediest  little  things  you  ever  saw. 

And  they  have  to  be  kept  crammed  with 
worms  and  bugs,  because  their  growth  is  rapid 
and  they  must  get  strength  enough  to  fly  and 
take  care  of  themselves  before  cold  weather 


WITH  GIRLS 


9 


comes  and  to  get  away  from  cats,  snakes  and 
other  animals  which  want  them  for  food. 

And  is  it  not  a wonderful  fact  to  contem- 
plate when  we  know  that  these  little  birds  will 
fly  a thousand  miles  to  a warm  climate  for 
the  winter,  and  will  fly  the  thousand  miles 
on  their  return  in  the  spring  and  find  their  old 
tree,  limb  and  identical  spot  where  their  old 
home  was?  If  these  little  birds  are  watched 
over  by  such  wonderful  laws,  what  must  be  the 
care,  laws  and  rules  by  which  we  are  governed? 

As  the  little  birds  come  from  a shell,  after 
being  developed  through  the  warmth  of  the 
mother’s  body,  just  so  do  we,  after  lying  in, 
our  mother’s  nest — the  womb— come  to  be  born, 
after  we  have  been  warmed  and  developed  for 
nine  months.  So  you  see  that  what  I said 
about  the  laws  of  God  being  the  same  for  every 
living  thing  is  the  absolute  truth. 

The  Springtime  of  the  girl  is  when  she  com- 
mences to  have  her  eggs  form  in  the 
ovaries  and  drop  into  her  womb.  She  com- 
mences to  bud  at  about  the  age  of  fourteen 
years,  and  like  the  delicate  buds  of  the  flowers, 
if  care  is  not  taken  to  protect  her  growth,  ill- 
health  follows  and  she  may  so  ruin  herself 
that,  when  she  marries,  she  is  unable  to  be  a 
mother. 

iWhile  it  takes  only  one  spring  and  summer 
to  make  a full-grown  flower,  or  even  a robin. 


10 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


the  girl  needs  twelve  or  fifteen  years  after  she 
is  born  to  get  into  her  budding  age.  And  her 
future  health,  morals  and  happiness  all  depend 
upon  how  the  first  four  or  five  years  of  the 
budding  age  is  lived.  And  to  live  so  that  she 
will  reach  the  highest  development  of  woman, 
the  girl  must  understand  all  the  laws  of  God 
and  live  according  to  these  laws. 

It  is  my  purpose  in  these  Chats  to  show  you 
these  laws,  as  well  as  to  plainly  point  out  to 
you  how  man  and  woman  have  constantly  been 
disobeying  God’s  words  and  how  we  are  suffer- 
ing in  consequence  of  our  ignorance  and  dis- 
obedience. 

Your  ovaries  are  in  place  when  you  are 
born.  Of  course  they  are  tiny  things  and  not 
developed.  They  remain  inactive  for  many 
years  after  you  are  born.  But  at  about  ten 
years  of  age  the  blood  commences  to  flow 
through  them  and  they  gradually  develop,  like 
the  flower  buds,  until  they  reach  their  ripeness. 
Of  course  this  development  varies  in  different 
girls  according  to  their  nationality;  those  from 
the  southern  countries  developing  earlier  than 
those  from  a more  rigid  climate.  About  four- 
teen years  of  age  is  the  average  age  in  this 
country. 

When  the  ovaries  are  developed  the  womb 
has  also  grown,  so  that  every  month  it  gets 
rid  of  blood  that  accumulates  there.  But  at 


WITH  GIRLS 


11 


this  period  the  wdmh  is  a very  tender  organ, 
delicate,  not  fully  fastened  to  the  ligaments 
from  which  it  hangs,  and  any  rough  play, 
strain  or  carelessness  at  the  time  of  menstrua- 
tion may  ruin  you  for  life. 

Every  girl  should  be  proud  of  this  budding 
process  and  care  for  it  with  a heart  full  of 
thankfulness.  Just  see  how  the  little  budding 
trees  and  flowers  are  cared  for  by  a good 
gardener,  how  careful  he  is  to  assist  Nature,  how 
by  this  reverence  and  thought  the  wild  flowers 
are  brought  under  cultivation  and  by  the  means 
of  the  pure  soil  in  which  they  are  planted,  by 
protecting  them  from  frost  and  harsh  treat- 
ment, what  beautiful  blossoms,  scents  and 
radiance  results. 

The  laws  of  God  make  the  wonderful  growth 
and  development  possible,  but  man,  by  acknowl- 
edging these  laws  and  abiding  by  them,  is  able 
to  increase  the  beauty  and  usefulness  of  all 
growths. 

It  is  just  so  with  us.  If  we  acknowledge 
the  beneficent  order  which  controls  us,  if  we 
reverently  study  to  understand  God’s  inten- 
tions, then  we  are  aided  in  all  we  do  to  perfect 
our  own  development,  moral  beauty  and  health. 
The  reward  we  receive  is  in  having  children 
follow  us  who  have  benefited  by  our  reverential 
and  knowing  efforts.  It  is  only  by  such  an 
attitude  towards  Nature  that  we  progress. 


12 


CONFIDENTIAL^  CHATS 


Shame  of  our  God-given  gifts,  studied  igno- 
rance of  all  His  laws,  the  ignoring  of  our 
powers  for  reproducing  our  kind,  all  mean  a 
going  backwards  in  civilization.  Disease,  sin 
and  debasement  is  certain  to  follow,  and  does 
follow,  for  most  of  the  misery,  disease  and 
poverty  is  due  to  our  past  attitude  in  ignoring 
the  details  of  the  blossoming  period  of  girls, 
by  allowing  the  process  to  go  on,  paying  no 
attention  to  the  soil — associations  and  environ- 
ments— of  either  the  girl  or  the  boy. 

Everything  in  nature  moves  in  cycles — that 
is,  moves  in  regular  periods.  The  stars,  the 
planets,  the  sun,  the  earth,  the  moon,  the  tides, 
the  seasons,  all  go  and  return  at  certain  fixed 
intervals.  Growths  of  all  kinds  on  this  earth 
have  their  periods  of  birth,  development,  death. 
The  active  periods  of  every  living  thing  is 
taken  up  with  reproductive  occurrences,  or  the 
getting  ready  for  reproduction.  The  female 
dog  has  her  regular  periods  when  she  is  ready 
to  be  a happy  mother,  so  do  the  pretty  deer, 
the  squirrels,  the  fishes,  everything.  When  the 
fishes’  regular  period  comes  around  in  the 
spring,  we  call  it  the  spawning  time,  with 
the  birds  the  pretty  name  of  mating.  With  the 
woman  we  call  it  the  menstrual  period,  from  the 
Latin  word  meaning  monthly. 

A pure,  honest  woman,  honest  to  herself  and 
her  God,  can  see  nothing  but  a wonderful 


WITH  GIRLS 


13 


provision  of  God  for  keeping  the  earth  popu- 
lated and  the  opportunities  for  bringing  man 
to  a nearer  understanding  of  his  Maker. 

We  need  no  orthodox  religion  to  make  man 
feel  the  essence  of  God  within  him  when  he 
understands  the  laws  under  which  he  lives,  and 
how  by  his  own  efforts  he  can  improve  his 
powers  and  give  greater  ones  to  those  who 
have  received  his  blood  through  a pure  woman. 

Such  is  every  good  and  intelligent  man’s 
thoughts,  his  inner  feelings,  but  only  through 
a woman’s  understanding  of  her  greater  powers 
in  this  respect  can  we  hope  to  bring  future 
generations  to  a higher  plane. 

It  is  in  order  to  aid  you  in  avoiding  the 
many  illnesses  which  have  fastened  upon  women 
during  the  last  thirty  years  or  so,  that  I speak 
so  plainly  in  these  Chats.  I am  obliged  to 
say  things  and  use  words  that  at  first  may 
seem  a little  indelicate,  but  if  you  have  grasped 
the  fact  that  I am  humbly  trying  to  tell  you 
the  truth  about  God’s  laws  and  sincerely  be- 
lieve that  I am  doing  right  in  so  telling  you, 
there  will  be  no  misunderstanding  about  my 
motives. 

So  I shall  take  you  at  once  into  my  confi- 
dence and  let  you  be  the  judge. 


CHAPTER  II 


A GENERAL  CHAT 

The  average  American  girl  approaches  pu- 
berty without  any  definite  knowledge  of  what 
a menstrual  flow  means.  If  you  are  one  of 
these  neglected  girls  and  have  had  a fright  when 
you  first  menstruated,  had  all  kinds  of  stories 
put  into  your  head,  you  must  try  to  forget 
the  fright  and  realize  that  all  the  stories  are 
really  nothing  but  stories.  If  you  have  passed 
over  one  or  two  periods  after  the  first  one 
made  its  appearance,  it  does  not  mean  that 
you  are  going  to  become  crazy,  that  something 
is  wrong  with  you,  but  that  the  fright,  the 
tales  you  have  heard  and  the  sensitive  condi- 
tion at  your  age  have  all  affected  your  nervous 
system,  and  you  will  come  out  all  right  after 
you  possess  a full  knowledge  of  these  things 
as  we  go  on  from  Chat  to  Chat. 

The  average  American  girl  commences  to 
menstruate  at  about  fourteen  years  of  age. 
Now  if  you  have  menstruated  two  years  earlier 
or  two  years  later  it  means  nothing  but  a con- 
dition of  your  race,  how  you  have  lived,  in  the 
country  or  the  excitements  of  the  city,  and 

14 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


15 


other  social  conditions.  From  the  time  a girl 
first  menstruates  she  can  count  on  about  thirty 
years  of  activity  for  the  ovaries  and  womb. 
That  is,  if  a girl  menstruates  for  the  first  time 
at  fourteen  years  of  age,  she  ought  not  to  have 
any  cessation  of  the  periods  until  she  is  forty- 
five  years  of  age.  So  you  can  see  that  the 
later  she  is  in  starting,  the  later  she  will  be 
in  stopping.  Of  course  the  same  thing  happens 
when  the  girl  commences  to  menstruate  earlier, 
she  will  stop  earlier. 

The  ovaries  are  two  little  sack-like  organs 
lying  on  each  side,  in  the  pelvis,  or  the  groin. 
From  each  ovary  runs  a little  tube  to  the  womb, 
which  is  situated  beneath  them  right  in  the 
middle  of  the  body.  Now  every  month  the 
ovaries  send  down  the  tubes  a little  egg  which 
lands  in  the  upper  part  of  the  womb,  and  when 
the  womb  is  full  of  blood,  which  occurs  every 
month  in  the  healthy  girl,  this  egg  is  carried 
away  in  the  blood. 

I do  not  intend  to  talk  to  you  about  the 
process  of  procreation  or  the  physiology  of 
conception;  all  these  matters  you  may  read 
about  in  the  many  good  books  which  have  been 
written  upon  those  subjects.  What  I want  to 
tell  you  are  facts  and  things  not  to  be  found 
in  books  and  which  will,  if  you  guide  yourself 
by  them,  make  you  a strong  and  healthy  woman 
throughout  all  your  life. 


16 


CONFIDENTIAL’  CHATS 


From  the  time  you  first  realize  that  you  are 
no  longer  a little  girl,  but  growing  into  a 
woman,  you  should  commence  to  take  the  best 
of  care  of  the  ovaries  and  the  monthly  flow. 
These  ovaries  hang  in  the  body  by  very  tender 
and  delicate  ligaments.  Never  mind  the  names 
the  doctors  call  these  cords  or  other  ligaments; 
we  are  always  going  to  speak  in  the  simplest 
language,  so  that  you  may  get  a clear  under- 
standing for  the  advice  I shall  give  you.  These 
ovaries  are  sensitive  to  all  movements  of  the 
body  and  to  your  emotions.  Anger,  outbursts 
of  indignation  and  wrong  reading,  all  these 
produce  an  effect  upon  the  ovaries,  especially 
so  when  your  period  is  in  full  activity. 

You  may  be  a romping,  strong  girl  with 
well-developed  muscles  and  bones  and  never 
had  to  be  careful  of  what  you  did.  But  when 
the  age  approaches  where  you  begin  to  feel 
strange,  somewhat  timid,  and  have  new  ideas 
and  peculiar  thoughts,  when  the  old  kind  of 
rough  exercise  tires  your  back,  it  means  that 
your  ovaries  and  womb  are  receiving  more 
than  the  usual  amount  of  blood  and  are  in  no 
condition  to  be  harshly  knocked  about.  At 
this  time  there  may  be  slight  bleeding  from 
the  nose,  for  the  first  time  a soreness  of  the 
breasts  and  nipples,  a light  feeling  in  the  head 
and  a disposition  to  easily  get  out  of  patience 
with  your  companions  and  things  about  you. 


WITH  GIRLS 


17 


When  these  many  different  feelings  come  you 
may  know  that  the  ovaries  are  getting  ready 
to  prove  that  you  are  a woman  in  the  making. 

Now  remember  that  the  monthly  flow  of 
blood  does  not  come  from  the  ovaries,  but  from 
the  inside  of  the  womb.  The  ovaries  make  the 
eggs  and  send  these  eggs  down  into  the  womb, 
as  I have  told  you.  When  you  are  married 
these  eggs  are  made  alive  by  the  husband’s 
germ  of  life  and  remain  in  the  womb,  growing 
for  nine  months,  when  the  little  babe  is  old 
enough  to  be  born  and  make  you  the  happiest 
woman  alive — that  is  if  you  are  in  good  health. 
As  long  as  you  are  a virtuous  girl  the  womb 
cleanses  itself  every  month.  Of  course  this 
does  not  take  place  after  you  are  married,  for 
if  so,  you  can  readily  see  that  the  blood  would 
carry  away  the  egg.  And  it  will  do  this  even 
after  you  are  married  and  have  a little  live 
egg  in  you,  if  you  have  not  taken  care  of  both 
womb  and  ovaries.  This  condition  may  be- 
come a regular  habit,  and  then  you  end  in  being 
the  most  miserable  woman  on  earth. 

Because  these  things  have  not  plainly  been 
told  the  girls  is  the  cause  for  so  much  injury 
being  done  to  the  womb  and  ovaries  while 
growing.  You  have  not  been  warned  that  you 
should  cease  all  rough  play,  active  sports, 
should  not  stand  all  day  upon  your  feet  nor 
dance  late  into  the  night.  Some  girls  have 


18 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


been  brought  up  to  be  over-active  at  this  time 
just  to  prove  that  they  will  not  acknowledge 
that  there  is  any  change  or  difference  in  them. 
Nature  always  punishes  such  an  insult  to  her 
laws,  and  the  teacher  who  places  such  ideas  in 
the  girl’s  mind  is  generally  one  whom  Nature 
has  already  punished  by  denying  her  any  of  the 
sweet  and  powerful  instincts  of  woman.  Have 
nothing  to  do  with  these  unfortunate  and 
harmful  creatures.  You  must  assist  Nature  in 
her  attempts  to  make  you  a complete  woman; 
give  in  to  her  by  keeping  quiet,  not  fretting 
nor  getting  angry  because  you  have  to  give  up 
some  dance  or  basketball  game.  If  you  do  not 
give  up  many  of  these  pleasures  when  you  are 
a growing  girl,  you  will  have  to  give  them  up 
later  on  in  life;  give  them  up  forever. 

For  the  first  two  years  from  the  commence- 
ment of  your  first  monthly  period  you  should 
be  quiet,  obtain  plenty  of  sleep  and  good  food 
and  take  no  exercise  except  walking,  swimming 
and  bending  of  the  body  in  your  room  night 
and  morning.  Skating  is  not  injurious  if  it  is 
not  overdone  and  you  keep  your  feet  dry  and 
warm.  Some  girls  have  been  injured  for  life — • 
though  they  did  not  know  it  at  the  time — ^by 
sliding  downhill  on  sleds.  They  were  tossed 
off  or  ran  into  some  post  or  fence  and  were 
slightly  bruised.  Such  a slight  accident  caused 
a rupture  or  strain  on  the  ovaries  or  womb. 


WITH  GIRLS 


19 


perhaps  the  tender  ligaments  were  stretched 
and  the  ignorant  girl  continued  her  play  with 
them  in  this  condition. 

Much  of  this  advice  may  seem  old-fashioned 
to  you,  but  in  all  truth  it  is  advice  founded 
upon  the  NEW  experience  and  knowledge 
of  all  physicians  who  have  seen  the  havoc 
wrought  by  carelessness  and  ignorance  in  these 
matters. 

The  womb,  hanging  by  its  delicate  cords,  is 
at  this  time  in  the  girl’s  life  growing  rapidly 
and  consequently  receiving  plenty  of  new  blood. 
It  has  not  reached  full  development  and  it  takes 
but  little  to  put  it  out  of  place  and  have  it 
stay  there.  The  ovaries  may  be  so  twisted  and 
put  out  of  order  that  nothing  can  be  done  for 
them  in  later  life  but  to  cut  them  out  with  a 
knife;  then  you  are  ruined  as  far  as  woman- 
hood is  concerned. 

Young  age  has  wonderful  powers  of  re- 
pairing injuries.  If  it  were  not  so,  but  few 
would  ever  reach  full  growth.  But  there  are 
some  injuries  youth  cannot  correct,  and  these 
are  the  distortions  and  displacements  of 
woman’s  sex  organs — the  internal  ones.  If 
you  jar  or  tear  these  organs,  the  ovaries  and 
womb,  while  you  are  growing,  you  do  not  know 
of  the  injury  at  the  time.  Every  tiling  at  this 
age  is  strange  to  you  in  feeling  and  function, 
and  slight  pains  in  the  back  or  groin,  irregu- 


20 


confidential:  chats 


larity  or  too  little  flow,  you  think  is  nothing. 
But  it  is  EVERYTHING  to  you  when  you 
reach  the  marriageable  age,  or  when  your  time 
comes  to  become  a mother. 

The  womb  is  pear-shaped,  big  end  upwards. 
It  should  hang  nearly  straight  in  the  body. 
The  small  end  is  the  outlet  which  opens  at  the 
time  the  baby  is  to  be  born.  It  also  opens 
slightly  every  month  to  let  out  the  blood,  then 
closes  when  it  has  emptied  itself.  Now  you 
can  readily  see  that  if  it  is  twisted,  tipped 
backwards  or  otherwise  out  of  shape,  birth  can 
only  be  given  at  great  risk  to  both  the  babe 
and  its  mother.  It  may  be  out  of  place  so 
that  nothing  but  an  operation  will  save  life. 
It  may  be  so  turned  backward  that  the  child  is 
smothered  while  trying  to  grow,  and  then  must 
come  a horrible  operation.  Even  the  un- 
married woman  will  suffer  from  any  of  these 
misplacements  of  the  womb.  Every  month  the 
blood  tries  to  pass  off  it  finds  obstruction; 
pains,  griping  pains  occur,  sometimes  the  blood 
cannot  pass  away  but  remains  to  cause  in- 
flammations and  tumors,  and  unless  corrected 
by  an  operation  the  poor  woman’s  life  is  one  of 
torture  and  invalidism. 

Ignorant,  never  having  been  told  of  these 
important  matters,  you  may  have  tried  to 
vault  in  the  gymnasiums,  played  a fierce  game 
of  basketball  or  gone  to  a dance  when  your 


WITH  GIRLS 


21 


flow  was  on.  This,  strange  as  it  may  seem 
to  some,  is  the  most  frequent  cause  of 
“ Women’s  Troubles,”  “ Female  Weakness,” 
etc.  Now  there  is  absolutely  no  reason  for  a 
woman  to  have  “ troubles  ” or  “ weakness.” 
Nature  has  so  made  woman  that  in  reality 
she  can  stand  much  more  strain  and  endurance 
of  a certain  kind  than  man  can.  At  the 
start  she  is  possessed  of  everything  which 
makes  a strong  and  well  being  throughout  all 
her  life.  She  has  to  be  of  this  nature,  for  just 
think,  she  does  the  work  of  two  beings.  While 
the  child  is  growing  in  the  womb  she  has  to 
watch  and  feed  herself  to  give  the  little  one 
good  blood — HER  blood.  When  it  is  born, 
she  has  to  do  the  same  thing — ^give  it  good, 
health-giving  milk.  Then  as  the  child  leaves 
her  breasts,  she  has  to  watch  and  care  for  all 
its  growing  years.  Besides  all  these  cares 
she  has  her  household,  her  husband,  her  hun- 
dred and  one  duties  to  perform.  Surely  all 
this  requires  a strength  of  body,  a determined 
will  and  an  all-absorbing  love.  No  man  could 
or  would  do  all  this — Never! 

A perfectly  well  woman,  a woman  whose 
sexual  parts  are  in  their  places  and  strongly 
attached  there,  does  all  this  tremendous  work 
happy,  smiling,  and  reaches  the  grandmother’s 
chair  with  the  sweetest  countenance  to  be  seen 
on  a human  face. 


22 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


It  used  to  be  so;  we  see  but  few  happy  and 
uncomplaining  mothers  now.  And  there  is 
but  one  cause  for  all  the  present  misery  and 
race  suicide. 

Ignorance  of  sex  laws  and  prudery  in  all 
the  most  vital  matters  pertaining  to  young 
girls  is  the  reason  and  cause. 

No  exercise  which  puts  a strain  on  the  body 
should  ever  be  taken  by  the  growing  girl. 
Especially  true  is  this  when  you  are  having 
your  menstrual  period,  for  then  you  should 
be  as  quiet  as  possible.  In  many  cases  it 
would  be  best  for  the  girl  to  remain  away 
from  school.  If  you  have  to  go  to  school, 
that  is  if  you  cannot  make  your  mother  under- 
stand the  matter,  you  should  be  allowed  to 
sit  and  not  stand  at  your  lessons.  Every  girl 
should  be  placed  in  the  unembarrassing  position 
to  leave  and  go  home  at  any  time  during 
school  hours. 

Thousands  of  girls  have  been  ruined  in 
health  because  their  male  teacher  or  gymnasium 
instructor  could  see  only  a pupil  and  not  a 
growing  woman,  because  a condition  which 
should  excuse  one  girl  or  make  allowance  for 
another,  or  a state  of  sexual  nervousness  which 
means  the  girl  ought  to  be  sent  home  at  once, 
are  subjects  that  are  not  talked  over  between 
a male  principal  and  a woman  teacher — ^that 
is,  not  as  they  should  be  talked  over.  It  is  an 


WITH  GIRLS 


23 


old  story  to  the  doctor,  these  nervous  and 
sexually-ill  young  women.  Taken  unwell  in 
school,  perhaps  suffering  pains  caused  by  a 
previous  “ standing  it  out,”  the  poor  girl  in- 
creases the  injury  to  her  organs,  and  besides 
being  unable  to  put  her  mind  upon  her  school 
work,  she  suffers  the  humiliation  of  a low 
mark. 

But  we  cannot  do  these  necessary  things  at 
the  public  schools,  girls  so  often  tell  me.  Well, 
there  is  but  one  answer  to  such  a complaint. 
If  the  schools  are  so  regulated  that  a growing 
girl  cannot  have  the  best  of  care,  consideration 
and  instruction  in  these  vital  matters,  we  had 
better  close  them  all — every  one.  But  what  we 
can  do  is  to  have  schools  for  girls  only,  and 
these  must  have  teachers  whose  first  thoughts 
are  the  physical  welfare  of  all  the  pupils 
and  who  are  thoroughly  conversant  with  sex 
hygiene  and  all  this  means  to  the  future  women 
of  our  land. 

I have  to  speak  of  this  most  important  mat- 
ter to  you  girls  because  in  a few  years  most 
of  you  will  have  daughters  to  send  to  school, 
and  as  it  is  almost  a hopeless  task  to  bring 
the  present  generation  out  of  their  mucilaginous 
prudery,  YOU  must  take  hold  as  mothers  and 
demand  that  such  care  and  instruction  will  be 
given  your  girls  that  we  shall  no  longer  have 
this  sad  condition  of  suffering  and  childless 


24 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


women  as  has  existed  the  last  forty  years  or  so. 
You  will  find  the  young  men  of  your  genera- 
tion aiding  and  forcing  these  common-sense 
forms  of  education,  for  they,  too,  are  being 
instructed  in  the  matter  from  their  side  of 
the  question. 

I remember  a beautiful  girl  of  fifteen 
years  of  age,  who  was  brought  to  me  suffering 
from  a nervous  breakdown.  There  was  noth- 
ing the  matter  with  her  except  everything. 
Never  having  had  that  care  and  instruction 
she  should  have  had,  one  day  in  school  her 
pains  became  unbearable.  She  cried,  and  when 
she  went  to  ask  her  teacher  to  excuse  her,  this 
misfit  of  a teacher  sent  the  embarrassed  girl 
to  the  PRINCIPAL.  Of  course  she  would 
not  go  and  tell  HIM  what  the  trouble  was; 
she  left  of  her  own  accord  and  was  marked 
for  it.  But  this  was  not  the  worst  of  it ; some 
evil-minded  boys  in  her  class  laughed  at  her 
when  she  returned  a few  days  afterwards  and 
uttered  those  despicable  hints  which  go  straight 
to  a good  girl’s  heart.  And  she  never  told  her 
mother,  because  her  mother  had  never  told  her 
anything.  A girl  in  the  school — oh,  there  are 
a lot  of  these  kinds,  I dare  say  you  all  know 
one  or  two  of  them — told  her  what  to  do  to 
keep  the  monthly  flow  away. 

So  she  finally  had  to  go  to  the  doctor,  who 
found  a frightful  state  of  things — one  ovary 


WITH  GIRLS 


25 


ruined  for  life.  For  three  years  she  remained 
an  invalid,  and  the  shock  she  received,  added 
to  the  drugs  she  had  taken,  had  made  her  one 
of  those  many  unfortunate  women  which  fill 
our  land. 

All  heavy  lifting  is  dangerous  to  the  womb 
and  ovaries  during  the  growing  period;  there- 
fore all  the  apparatus  in  the  gymnasiums  for 
testing  the  strength  of  arms  and  back  should 
be  avoided.  Many  a foolish  or  uninstructed 
girl  has  made  herself  a girl  of  muscles,  but 
ruined  her  WOMANLY  POWERS  in  so 
doing.  Save  all  your  strength  and  force  for 
what  Nature  intended  a woman  to  DO;  don’t 
throw  it  away  in  doing  gymnasium  stunts.  No 
real  youth  or  man  likes  to  see  a girl  do  these 
things;  his  applause  does  not  come  from  the 
heart,  but  only  from  the  head.  Such  a girl 
may  have  strong  arms  in  which  to  carry  a 
baby,  hut  the  chances  are  some  other  woman 
will  have  to  give  her  the  baby  to  carry.  Of 
course  every  girl  should  exercise,  hut  it  must 
be  such  exercises  as  is  governed  with  her  sexual 
organs  ever  in  view.  As  an  example,  dancing 
is  good  recreation  and  exercise,  but  it  should 
not  be  indulged  in  two  days  BEFORE  the 
menstrual  period  and  not  until  two  days 
AFTER. 

Another  thing  which  affects  the  womb — re- 
tention of  urine.  That  is,  keeping  the  bladder 


26 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


full.  Many  girls  have  been  brought  up  in 
such  ignorance  and  under  such  false  ideas  of 
prudery  that  they  will  suffer  pain  from  dis- 
tention of  the  bladder  rather  than  allow  the 
slightest  hint  to  escape  them  that  they  need 
immediate  relief.  This  brings  about  not  only 
a weakness  of  the  bladder,  which  will  in  later 
life  be  very  annoying  and  really  embarrassing, 
but  the  pressure  of  a full  bladder  on  the 
surrounding  parts — the  womb  and  its  attach- 
ments— is  apt  to  displace  it  and  irritate  it. 
Then  again,  a girl  may  be  within  a few  days 
of  her  flow,  and  here  the  pressure  of  a full  and 
hard  bladder  may  set  up  an  inflammation  and 
bring  on  the  period  before  its  time.  All  this 
tends  to  start  an  irregularity,  and  when  this 
irregularity  is  fairly  established,  the  girl’s,  and 
later  on  the  woman’s,  life  is  only  an  existence 
full  of  misery. 

In  fact,  I think  I am  justified  in  saying 
that  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  women  suffering 
from  nervousness,  hysteria,  restlessness  and 
pain,  comes  from  the  sexual  organs  being  out  of 
place,  twisted,  early  inflammations  and  general 
lack  of  care  of  them  from  want  of  knowledge. 

And  it  is  so  easy  for  a girl  to  grow  into 
complete  womanhood,  full  of  life,  good  health 
and  scarcely  any  unnatural  knowledge  that  she 
has  ovaries,  womb  or  breasts.  Most  women 
to-day  only  know  they  have  a womb  from  the 


WITH  GIRLS  27 

severe  pains  and  that  “ bearing  down  ” feeling 
about  which  they  constantly  complain. 

Please  understand  that  in  this  CHAT  we 
are  only  considering  general  and  common  con- 
ditions which  injure  all  growing  girls  and 
result  in  miserable  health  in  after  life.  I am 
only  hinting  about  the  errors  due  to  ignorance 
which  produce  our  hysterical  women  and  child- 
less wives.  And  I want  to  repeat  this  fact, 
that  there  is  absolutely  no  reason  for  all  this 
invalidism  and  suffering  among  women  and 
girls. 

The  general  rules  I shall  give  you  for 
perfect  condition  and  good  health  must  be 
followed  by  all  girls  and  young  women,  but  I 
shall  have  to  devote  some  time  to  the  special 
needs  of  girls  who  work  in  shops,  large  stores, 
factories  and  those  who  are  brought  into  close 
intimacy  with  men  in  offices. 

Those  dragging  pains  in  the  small  of  the 
back  so  many  suffer  from  during  the  menstrual 
flow,  and  those  racking  headaches,  are  not 
natural.  The  pains  mean  that  the  womb  is 
dragging  or  else  pulling  upon  its  supports ; 
that  you  need  to  rest  and  keep  off  your  feet 
as  much  as  possible.  If  you  are  a schoolgirl, 
you  MUST  stay  at  home  and  rest  upon  your 
back  much  of  the  time.  There  is  no  excuse 
for  your  not  doing  this.  To  force  you  to  go 
to  school  to  take  an  examination  or  make  up 


28 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


a certain  lesson  is  criminal.  STRIKE!  It 
would  be  a good  thing  if  you  all  formed  a 
union  for  the  protection  of  your  future  health, 
and  demanded  your  sex  rights.  Rest  you 
should,  and  must,  from  all  mental  or  physical 
excitement  if  you  wish  to  be  a woman  who  will 
be  a blessing  to  those  around  her  instead  of  a 
burden. 

Which  had  you  rather  YOUR  daughter 
should  have,  a certificate  of  perfect  health,  with 
the  knowledge  that  when  she  marries  she  can 
become  a mother  without  danger  to  herself  and 
child,  that  she  can  remain  happy  in  the  nursery 
instead  of  miserable  in  the  hospital,  or  a di- 
ploma stating  that  she  can  read  French  poetry 
and  write  an  essay  upon  “ Woman’s  Career  ” ? 

Some  of  these  statements  you  girls  will  have 
to  read  to  your  mothers.  Then  if  prudery 
has  blinded  them  to  the  truth,  take  the  matter 
into  your  own  hands.  It  is  upon  you,  in  the 
future,  that  depends  the  decent  regulating  of 
instruction  in  the  public  schools.  The  girl  who 
goes  to  dances  or  any  evening  entertainment 
lightly  clothed,  low  neck  and  short  sleeves, 
while  she  is  menstruating,  as  thousands  do,  will 
certainly  land  in  the  doctor’s  hands  or  be- 
come one  of  those  pitiful  things,  a drug  fiend. 
And  the  drug  habit  starts  from  taking  “ some 
harmless  thing  ” to  ease  the  pains  or  stop  the 
flow. 


WITH  GIRLS 


29 


That  curse  of  the  American  girls,  constipa- 
tion, does  as  much  if  not  more,  to  hurt 
the  womb  than  a full  bladder.  We  shall 
have  a lot  to  say  about  this  matter  later 
on  in  our  Chats  about  the  skin  and  com- 
plexion. 

When  the  menstrual  period  first  makes  its 
appearance  the  swelling  and  tenderness  of  the 
breasts,  the  itching,  a feeling  of  fullness  in  the 
region  of  the  womb,  are  all  natural  and  should 
not  cause  any  worry.  If  you  are  in  perfect 
health  and  KEEP  so,  these  little  symptoms 
will  become  less  noticeable  as  you  grow  into 
full  womanhood.  So  do  not  get  frightened, 
do  not  take  any  medicines  nor  act  upon  the 
foolish  advice  from  other  girls.  The  flashes  of 
heat,  frequent  blushing,  dizziness  and  the  fre- 
quent desire  to  pass  your  water,  are  all  natural. 
There  are  some  fortunate  girls  who  approach 
and  pass  this  first  period  without  all  these 
uncomfortable  symptoms,  but  most  of  you  will 
have  some  or  all  of  them. 

The  itching  of  the  skin,  pimples  on  the 
face  and  body,  sometimes  a sore  throat,  all 
these  are  nothing  but  indications  of  the  great 
revolution  you  are  going  through  from  being 
a girl  to  becoming  a glorious  woman.  Then 
there  are  the  toilet  duties  to  be  done  at  this 
period  and  throughout  your  life  which  make 
for  perfect  health. 


30 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


Oh,  yes,  I shall  tell  you  all  about  these 
matters  and  what  to  do. 

During  the  periods  of  the  first  year  or  so 
you  are  in  a condition  to  catch  many  of  the 
diseases  all  around  you,  such  as  tuberculosis — 
consumption — erysipelas,  tonsilitis,  scarlet  fe- 
ver and  the  mumps.  Remember  I do  not  say 
you  are  liable  to  catch  such  a disease  as  con- 
sumption, only  that  you  are  in  a condition  when 
the  germs  can  find  lodgment  better  than  at 
other  times.  Of  course  you  should  never  sleep 
in  a room  with  a consumptive  or  even  be 
around  one  at  any  time,  but  should  it  happen 
that  during  your  developing  period  anyone  with 
the  disease  was  liable  to  be  brought  into  con- 
tact with  you,  keep  away,  away  in  the  open 
air. 

At  this  period  also  mumps  may  be  a serious 
matter  for  you,  so  if  you  have  a little  brother 
or  sister  who  is  suffering  from  this  disease  of 
childhood,  you  should  keep  out  of  the  room 
and,  if  possible,  out  of  the  house.  No  matter 
if  you  did  have  the  mumps  when  a little  girl. 
If  you  catch  the  mumps  during  the  first  years 
of  your  young  womanhood  the  affection  MAY 
go  to  your  ovaries.  This,  of  course,  produces 
a painful  swelling  and,  if  not  attended  to  by 
a reputable  physician,  will  go  to  destroy  the 
usefulness  of  the  ovaries — prevent  you  from 
ever  having  children.  This  has  happened  in 


WITH  GIRLS 


31 


girls  who  did  not  know — or  rather  their  mothers 
did  not  know — what  the  danger  was,  and  when 
the  girl  grew  up  to  be  married  and  no  ehil- 
dren  came,  she  was  blamed,  often  accused  of 
being  one  who  did  not  want  children.  Many 
a time  when  a young  woman  had  been  married 
several  years  and  was  childless,  I have  asked 
the  mother  if  her  daughter  had  the  mumps 
when  she  was  growing  into  womanhood,  and 
if  she  suffered  pain  in  the  groin  and  back. 

“ Why,  yes.  Doctor — but  what  has  that  to  do 
with  it?  ” 

“ Didn’t  you  know  that  the  mumps  sometimes 
went  to  the  ovaries  and  destroyed  their  func- 
tion?” 

“ Why,  no;  it  can’t  be  possible?  ” 

“ Yes,  possible  and  probable.  Your  daughter 
can  never  have  children  because  you  did  not 
tell  her  all  about  her  sex  organs,  and  when 
her  little  brother  had  a swelling  and  pain  in 
the  glands  of  throat  and  jaws,  you  did  not 
know  enough  to  send  her  away  or  keep  her 
away  from  him,  telling  her  plainly  why  you 
did  so. 

“But  you  were  never  allowed  to  mention 
these  things  when  you  were  a young  woman — 
you  never  knew  these  important  things?  Ex- 
actly so,  and  this  is  the  punishment  thousands 
of  mothers  and  daughters  are  receiving  for  this 
prudery.” 


CHAPTER  III 


THE  DISORDERS  OF  MENSTRUATION  AND  GENERAL 
HEALTH 

Civilization  has  brought  many  unnatural 
effects  upon  the  monthly  period  of  women, 
and  ignorance  of  how  to  care  for  the  body  has 
made  matters  worse.  It  is  with  these  unnatural 
disturbances  that  you  are  mostly  concerned. 
The  inability  to  understand  certain  symptoms 
of  your  menstrual  flow,  tbe  consequent  neglect 
of  these  symptoms  or  ignorantly  taking  drugs 
and  medicines  for  the  troubles,  are  the  causes 
for  so  many  girls  and  women  being  miserable 
and  invalids  struggling  on  under  most  distress- 
ing conditions. 

There  is  always  a good  cause  for  any  irregu- 
larity or  stoppage  of  the  monthly  period;  some 
reason  why  the  flow  is  scanty  or  too  profuse. 
These  causes  can  readily  be  discovered  when 
the  girl  knows  herself  and  all  that  pertains  to 
that  self. 

In  the  healthy  girl  the  flow  should  come 
and  go  without  any  marked  pains  or  distress. 
Of  course  during  four  or  five  days  there  will 
be  a feeling  of  weakness,  lassitude,  a “ please- 

82 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


33 


let-me-alone  ” attitude,  and  in  many  girls,  a 
desire  for  pure  love  and  caresses.  These  vari- 
ous feelings  are  natural  and  only  go  to  show 
that  you  are  a full-blown  woman. 

There  is  nothing  to  be  ashamed  of  in  this 
feeling  for  love  and  caresses,  this  peculiar  desire 
to  want  protection  and  a something  that  you 
cannot  exactly  explain  to  yourself.  It  is  really 
an  awakening  of  all  your  womanly  desires, 
and  these  are  your  greatest  powers  over  man, 
children  and  the  best  of  everything  in  the 
world.  These  feelings  should  not  be  sup- 
pressed, but  kept  under  control.  They  should 
be  carefully  saved,  for  they  are  the  feelings 
which  bring  future  happiness,  and  you  want  to 
give  them  as  little  attention  as  possible  except 
that  attention  which  keeps  them  pure  and  holy. 

Avoid  all  women  who  scoff  at  motherhood, 
who  deride  the  domestic  life  for  women,  who 
stand  and  shout  their  demands  in  public  places 
instead  of  sweetly  using  their  influence  for  a 
better  condition  for  men  and  women  so  that 
the  future  babies  will  have  a proper  birthright. 
No  discussion  or  knowledge  which  will  make 
better  fathers  and  mothers  can  be  wrong,  but 
every  attempt  to  ignore  the  subject  is  sinful. 

There  is  nothing  to  be  ashamed  of  in  mater- 
nal feeling  and  impulses;  what  a girl  is  to  be 
blamed  for  is  a want  of  control  over  these 
natural  instincts  and  giving  way  to  them.  The 


34 


CONFIDENTIAt  CHATS 


care  of  the  company  she  keeps,  the  kind  of 
thoughts  she  lets  get  into  her  mind  and  the 
way  she  cares  for  her  body,  are  the  factors 
which  make  for  a good  and  chaste  girl  or 
otherwise. 

But  how  can  we  blame  all  those  girls  who 
accidentally  go  wrong?  I certainly  do  not. 
They  have  never  been  told  just  what  to  do, 
where  the  danger  lurks  and  all  the  conse- 
quences. Should  we  blame  and  shun  the  girls 
who  have  been  sent  out  into  the  world  amid 
the  dangers  and  snares  laid  for  them;  young 
women  who  see  ehastity  mocked,  virtue  a thing 
to  bargain  for,  the  glitter  of  gold  pouring  into 
the  laps  of  those  thousands  who  find  “ the 
easiest  waj'^  ” out  of  their  poverty  and  strug- 
gles? 

Yet  the  truth  is,  hard  as  it  may  seem  and 
as  often  as  it  has  been  told  to  you,  that  virtue 
and  chastity  in  deeds  and  thoughts  DO  bring 
rich  awards.  These  awards  may  be  a long  and 
tedious  time  in  coming  and  the  struggle  is  hard, 
but  in  the  end  all  this  will  be  proven  to  have 
been  worth  while. 

As  I have  told  you,  the  monthly  period 
should  come  and  go  without  much  physical 
pain.  It  should  last  from  four  to  five  days  and 
be  regular  in  recurring  about  every  twenty- 
eight  days.  But  it  is  seldom  so  normal  in  the 
average  American  girl,  the  girl  who  has  been 


WITH  GIRLS 


35 


left  alone  to  solve  her  own  mysteries  and  go 
her  own  way.  This  is  equally  true  of  the  high- 
school  girl  or  the  working  girl.  And  why? 
Because  she  has  been  brought  up  through  her 
early  developing  days  to  go  on  and  disregard 
all  her  sex  functions — the  greatest  factor  in  all 
life.  The  high-school  girl  has  been  mixed  up 
with  all  kinds  of  youths  and  not  kept  away 
from  tantalizing  and  embarrassing  conditions. 
The  shop  and  working-girl  has  been  forced  to 
do  her  work,  day  in  and  out,  standing  upon 
her  feet  or  working  at  a machine  while  the 
sensitive  and  full-blooded  womb  was  trying  to 
empty  itself. 

Let  us  first  consider  the  girl  whose  monthly 
flow  is  scanty  or  entirely  absent.  She  has 
arrived  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years  and  has  not 
“ seen  anything.”  But  every  month,  for  a year 
or  so,  she  has  had  headaches,  felt  extremely 
nervous,  had  some  pains,  the  breasts  have  felt 
tender  and  sore,  and  altogether  she  has  had  a 
miserable  twelve  months  of  these  symptoms,  but 
no  relief  from  a flow.  What  is  the  matter 
with  such  a girl? 

Remember  I told  you  that  the  womb  was 
pear-shaped,  the  small  end  hanging  down. 
Here  is  a little  opening,  through  which  the 
menstrual  blood  flows,  and  then  out  of  the 
body.  The  womb  is  in  reality  only  a big  bunch 
of  muscles  so  arranged  that  it  can  relax  and 


36 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


empty  itself  and  then  tightly  close.  In  the 
unmarried  woman,  or  before  one  has  given  birth 
to  a child,  this  little  opening  is  completely  closed 
except  during  the  period.  Even  then  it  is  only 
very  slightly  opened,  but  open  and  shut  it  must 
if  a girl  is  to  he  in  good  health. 

A girl  may  have  over-exercised  or  injured 
herself  when  she  was  twelve  years  of  age  or 
thereabouts,  and  brought  about  a little  inflam- 
mation, which  at  the  time  she  knew  nothing 
about.  The  womb  was  already  getting  pre- 
pared to  do  its  monthly  work,  and  as  the 
weeks  went  on  the  inflamipation  increased. 
Inflammation  always  means  some  kind  of 
an  extra  growth  at  the  injured  spot;  like 
a scar,  for  example,  after  a wound  has 
healed  up. 

The  womb  itself  is  not  a sensitive  organ 
to  the  touch  or  to  slight  inflammations  at  the 
lower  end,  hence  the  little  girl  does  not,  at  the 
time,  feel  any  pain.  She  may  feel  uncomfort- 
able in  that  region,  but  as  she  has  been  brought 
up  NEVER  to  mention  any  matters  concern- 
ing her  sex  organs,  of  course  she  keeps  silent 
while  the  injury  goes  on.  The  little  inflamma- 
tion heals  up,  but  in  healing  what  does  it  do? 
Leaves  a scar,  of  course.  Now  this  scar  may  be 
big  enough  to  have  CLOSED  the  outlet  for 
the  monthly  flow — to  have  made  the  entrance 
of  the  womb  grow  together.  It  is  under  these 


WITH  GIRLS  37 

circumstances  a sealed  bag;  nothing  can  come 
away  from  it. 

The  girl’s  time  comes,  hut  the  blood  does 
not.  All  the  other  signs  being  present,  she 
watches  and  worries.  Sometimes,  alas,  too 
many  times,  she  has  never  been  told  just  what 
should  happen.  Backache  troubles  her,  head- 
aches often  drives  her  to  take  some  harmful 
drug,  she  becomes  fretful,  loses  control  of  her 
temper  in  the  simplest  things  and  finally  loses 
friends  because  she  “ is  so  horrid,  says  so  many 
cutting  things.” 

Yet  she  does  not  mean  to  be  disagreeable; 
she  simply  cannot  help  it.  How  could  she? 
There  is  a clot  of  blood  in  her  womb  that 
cannot  come  away;  it  remains  and  hardens  and 
each  month  is  added  to  by  the  banked-up 
blood. 

It  is  a very  sad  condition,  and  one  that  often 
continues  until  a tumor  is  formed,  or  some 
other  complication  makes  an  invalid  of  her  in 
the  prime  of  her  life — or  what  should  be  her 
prime. 

This  condition  is  frequently  the  cause  of 
hysteria,  of  desperation,  of  a gradual  mental 
failing. 

There  is  another  condition  which  goes  to 
ruin  a girl’s  health  and  happiness,  for  the  effects 
are  the  same  as  in  a closed  womb.  There  is  a 
membrane  in  all  chaste  girls  called  the  hymen. 


S8 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


This  closes  the  entrance  to  the  vagina.  Now 
there  should  always  be  a little  opening,  or 
several  little  openings  in  this  membrane  to  let 
out  the  blood.  In  some  girls  this  is  closed  from 
birth;  so  completely  closed  and  tough  that  the 
weight  of  the  first  monthly  blood  cannot  break 
through  it.  Then  we  have  all  the  symptoms 
of  the  stoppage  we  have  in  the  closed  womb, 
only  the  blood  packs  and  hardens  in  the  lower 
parts  instead  of  the  womb.  Often  this  produces 
greater  distress  than  when  the  same  conditions 
exist  in  the  womb.  Here  great  bloody  tumors 
form  and  the  state  of  the  poor  girl  is  certainly 
pitiable. 

From  birth  also  the  womb  may  be  closed, 
grown  together.  Then  there  are  some  girls  so 
nervously  constituted  that  the  least  touch  on  the 
muscles  of  the  womb  will  shut  it  up  spasmodi- 
cally. Such  a girl’s  womb  is  not  grown  to- 
gether, but  when  the  first  drops  of  blood  are 
trying  to  ooze  away,  the  womb  shuts  tightly. 
In  all  these  cases  the  results  to  the  girl  is  the 
same  as  I have  described. 

The  remedy  for  all  this  misery  is  simple, 
almost  painless,  and  will  not  detain  you  from 
your  duties  but  a few  days;  sometimes  not  at 
all.  By  simply  cutting  or  snipping  apart  the 
growth  at  the  entrance  to  the  organ,  or  opening 
it  by  a little  stretching  instrument,  the  fault  is 
remedied;  the  girl  cured.  And  all  this  simple 


WITH  GIRLS 


39 


knowledge  could  have  saved  thousands  of  suf- 
fering girls  and  women.  No,  it  does  not  inter- 
fere with  your  proof  of  virginity.  The  snip- 
ping is  too  slight.  But  supposing  it  should? 
What  of  it,  as  long  as  you  know  in  your  own 
heart  that  your  are  a chaste  girl?  Do  you 
want  to  be  a miserable  wreck  of  a woman  just 
on  account  of  an  ancient  superstition,  a foolish 
and  harmful  idea  of  a lot  of  old  women  and 
medieval  theologians? 

It  is  a sad  condition — ^this  closed  womb — and 
should  not  be  allowed  to  sicken  a girl  for  one 
hour— IF  SHE  KNOWS. 

Alas!  she  has  not  been  allowed  to  know  these 
things — just  allowed  to  suffer  and  be  blamed. 

If  you  have  reached  the  age  of  fifteen  years 
or  thereabouts  and  for  a year  or  so  have  had 
all  the  nervous  and  mental  symptoms  of  a 
period  occurring  every  month  and  no  blood 
comes,  then  go  at  once  to  a reputable  physician. 
Be  certain  you  go  to  one  in  good  standing. 
Never  go  to  one  who  advertises  “ women’s 
troubles,”  or  to  one  whom  you  do  not  know 
by  the  best  of  repute.  Remember  that  honest 
and  true  physicians  do  not  advertise  in  the 
papers.  So  whenever  you  see  an  advertisement 
of  a doctor  who  says  he  can  cure  you  of  THAT 
trouble,  keep  away  from  him.  Never  mind 
what  the  other  girls  tell  you  about  a doctor  or 
some  medicine  that  cured  them,  probably  the 


40  CONFIDENTIAL’  CHATS 

cause  for  their  trouble  was  an  entirely  different 
one. 

Naturally,  your  mother  is  the  first  one  to 
consult,  but  I fear  that  if  you  have  a mother  who 
has  allowed  you  to  suffer  month  after  month, 
and  constantly  said,  “ Oh,  don’t  bother  about 
such  matters;  it  will  come  out  all  right  when 
you  get  older;”  such  a mother  will  not  exaetly 
be  the  one  to  go  to — go  to  a RELIABLE 
physician. 

Never,  under  any  cireumstances,  take  medi- 
cines for  this  trouble.  Let  “ regulating  pills  ” 
alone  as  you  would  a rattlesnake.  Now  that 
you  know  the  cause,  common-sense  will  tell 
you  that  pills,  or  any  and  all  things  of  the 
kind,  are  not  only  useless,  but  harmful. 

“ But,  Doctor,  how  about  the  girl  who  has 
had  several  good  periods  and  then  stops  for 
several  months,  or  even  skips  a month  and  only 
flows  every  other  month?  There  can  be  no 
closing  of  the  mouth  of  the  womb  under  these 
circumstances? 

No,  in  such  cases  the  cause  is  entirely  dif- 
ferent, or  rather  the  causes,  for  there  are 
many.  Most  of  you  can  find  out  for  yourself 
just  what  YOUR  cause  is  for  being  irregular, 
after  I point  out  to  you  some  facts. 

Many  times  it  is  only  Nature’s  way  of  pre- 
serving your  health.  For  instance,  if  you  have 
not  sufficient  blood  in  your  system  to  allow 


WITH  GIRLS 


41 


you  to  lose  a certain  amount  every  month. 
Nature  will  prevent  it  going  to  the  womb  to 
be  thrown  away.  Some  girls  will  have  “ nose 
bleeds  ” once  or  twice  a month  and  this  takes 
the  place  of  the  monthly  flow.  This  is  not  a 
sign  of  good  health,  just  a sign  that  something 
is  wrong — see  a good  doctor,  he  will  know  and 
tell  you  what  to  do.  If  you  are  troubled  with 
headaches  (especially  in  the  back  of  the  head 
and  neck),  if  your  appetite  is  poor,  if  you  lost 
too  great  an  amount  during  your  last  flow,  or 
if  your  nervousness  increases,  it  means  that  you 
are  in  poor  condition.  Perhaps  you  have 
danced  too  much  and  lost  too  much  sleep,  been 
unduly  excited  or  had  some  great  grief;  any 
of  these  things  will  affect  in  some  way  your 
menses.  Anything,  in  fact,  which  lowers  the 
tone  of  your  general  health  will  affect  the 
menses. 

If  you  are  over-fat  and  growing  fatter  every 
day,  this  unhealthful  condition  will  stop  your 
menses.  I don’t  mean  a plump,  jolly,  happy 
amount  of  fat, — this  is  a good  state  for  a 
growing  girl, — but  I mean  an  overplus  of  fat 
with  white  cheeks,  flabby  flesh,  swollen  ankles 
and  big  stomach.  Such  a condition  indicates 
some  disease. 

There  are  many  diseases  which  leave  you  in 
a condition  of  suppressed  or  irregular  men- 
struation; such  as  typhoid  fever,  kidney  affec- 


42 


confidential;  chats 


tions,  chlorosis — ^lack  of  red  blood — consump- 
tion, scarlet  fever.  If  you  have  gone  through 
any  one  of  these  illnesses  and  your  periods  are 
irregular  or  scanty,  don’t  worry;  time  will  put 
this  matter  right  as  you  recover  from  the  gen- 
eral effects  of  the  disease.  If  you  have  reason 
to  fear  consumption,  be  grateful  that  Nature  is 
preserving  your  blood  to  help  you  get  well; 
for,  as  you  know,  you  can  get  well — can  com- 
pletely recover  from  consumption — if  you 
WILL  EAT  AND  SLEEP  IN  THE 
OPEN  AIR— LIVE  IN  THE  OPEN  AIR. 

Most  of  the  causes  for  irregularities  and 
scanty  flows  are  due  to  your  unhygienic 
methods  of  living  and  playing.  Sleeping  in 
rooms  where  fresh  air  only  gets  in  through  a 
crack,  insufficient  and  improper  food  and  too 
much  tea  and  coffee,  will  soon  cause  irregulari- 
ties and  other  menstrual  troubles.  Catching 
cold  or  getting  wet  feet,  damp  skirts  flapping 
around  thinly-clad  ankles  just  before  or  during 
the  time  of  your  monthlies,  will  also  bring  you 
to  some  womb  trouble. 

Then  the  influence  of  the  mind  upon  all 
these  matters  plays  a very  important  part  in 
your  health.  Evil  suggestions  from  girls  or 
youths,  seeing  plays  which  you  ought  not  to 
see,  reading  all  that  rotten  stuff  put  out  for 
young  women  and  girls  to  read  and  dream 
over — I don’t  mean  the  nastj^  ones,  but  all  those 


WITH  GIRLS 


43 


which  unduly  excite  the  imagination  and  throw 
a false  light  upon  life — the  Duke,  the  Prince 
and  Villain  kind — the  virtuous  blonde  maiden 
and  the  hard-w’orking  hero  stulf,  you  all  know 
what  I mean.  There  is  plenty  of  good  litera- 
ture, exciting  stories,  to  be  read  without  read- 
ing a lot  of  cheap  tinsel  and  ready-made 
romances  which  have  no  more  to  do  with 
real  life  than  a mask  has  to  do  Avith  the 
human  features. 

You  can  over-exercise,  become  too  much  ex- 
cited over  contests  in  the  gymnasium,  use  up 
force  to  such  an  extent  that  your  growing 
womanly  functions  become  weakened  and  some- 
times dried  up.  No  girl  of  a nervous  tempera- 
ment should  go  into  any  athletic  contest,  team 
or  personal.  Such  a girl  should  not  play 
basketball,  attempt  any  stunts  on  horizontal 
bars  or  flying  rings;  nothing,  in  fact,  which 
calls  for  a strain  upon  the  nervous  system. 
The  function  of  the  womb,  as  well  as  of  all 
the  sex  organs,  are  directly  affected  by  the 
nervous  system.  You  ean  never  be  a strong 
woman,  complete  in  all  that  belongs  to  a 
woman  and  her  career,  if  you,  as  a jmung 
woman,  over-strain  the  nervous  system. 

Hundreds  of  girls  who  are  playing  contests 
of  basketball,  to  see  which  team  is  to  be  the 
champion  of  the  state  or  the  town,  are  going 
to  suffer  from  all  this  excitement.  Your 


44 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


teachers  do  not  take  into  serious  consideration 
your  growing  sex  organs.  They  do  not  seem 
to  know  what  it  means  for  a girl  to  get  over- 
excited at  any  time  during  her  development, 
that  there  is  nothing  except  alcohol  which  will 
arouse  dangerous  impulses  more  than  athletic 
excitement.  So  do  be  careful  of  your  exer- 
cise. 

On  the  other  hand,  no  exercise  will  also  pro- 
duce some  disturbance  of  the  menstrual  period. 
If  you  do  not  take  some  form  of  useful  exercise, 
poisons  accumulate  in  your  system.  This 
causes  unnatural  fat  to  pile  up  around  your 
ovaries  and  kidneys;  in  fact,  it  will  bring  you 
to  a sad  state  in  middle  life  if  you  have 
neglected  to  exercise  in  a careful  and  regular 
manner  when  you  are  growing. 

The  girl  who  works  in  the  shop,  the  depart- 
ment store,  or  follows  any  of  the  numerous 
careers  which  are  open  to  her,  as  a rule  gets 
plenty  of  exercise.  To  be  sure  it  is  not  the 
best  kind  of  exercise  by  any  means,  but  as  she 
has  to  be  on  her  feet  almost  all  the  day,  for 
her  to  take  any  gymnasium  work  at  night  is 
harmful.  She  needs  the  fresh  air,  to  eat  proper 
food  and  to  obtain  plenty  of  sleep — all  she 
can  get  or  steal.  The  girl  who  is  so  situated 
that  she  can  walk  to  and  from  her  place  of 
employment,  is  fortunate;  the  girl  who  cannot, 
must  get  walking  exercise  in  the  open  air 


WITH  GIRLS 


45 


some  way  if  she  wishes  her  periods  and  general 
health  to  be  perfect. 

Profuse  menstruation,  that  is,  too  much  blood 
flowing  and  for  too  long  a time,  is  always  a 
sign  that  something  is  wrong  with  the  womb 
as  well  as  with  your  general  health.  It  is  not 
a sign  that  “ you  have  too  much  blood  in  your 
system,”  but  a symptom  that  the  womb  is 
weak,  has  lost  its  tone  and  does  not  close  up 
tightly  at  the  finish  as  it  should.  The  cause 
is  one  of  the  many  I have  told  you  about;  too 
long  standing  on  the  feet,  going  to  parties 
or  dances  when  you  should  have  been  in  bed, 
improper  food  or  too  little  of  it,  undue  excite- 
ment at  a time  when  you  should  have  been  quiet. 
Search  well  your  own  heart,  and  some  of  the 
causes  you  will  he  able  to  discover  yourself. 
In  other  words,  any  irregularity  or  little  errors 
in  your  conduct  will  bring  about  irregularity  in 
your  menstrual  functions. 

No  girl  should  use  the  sewing  machine 
when  she  is  unwell,  or  do  any  work 
which  involves  the  movement  of  the  thighs  and 
legs. 

Food,  nourishment  and  clothing  have  a lot 
to  do  with  all  the  irregularities  and  disturbances 
of  the  sex  organs,  but  we  shall  have  to  chat 
about  these  important  matters  when  dealing 
with  the  skin  and  complexion,  so  leave  them 
here.  It  will  save  repeating. 


46 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


One  great  curse — for  that  is  what  it  really 
is — of  all  American  girls  and  women,  is  con- 
stipation. False  modesty,  ignorance  and  not 
drinking  enough  water  are  the  principal  causes 
for  this  injurious  state.  But  never  mind  the 
causes,  let  us  get  at  the  effects. 

Every  portion  of  your  body,  including  the 
bones,  can  be  in  a state  of  good  health  only 
when  constantly  supplied  with  fresh  water. 
Coffee,  soda  water,  chocolate  or  other  make- 
shifts do  not  take  the  place  of  pure  water. 
You  should  get  the  water  into  you  daily,  by 
the  quart.  I wish  I could  go  into  this  matter 
so  thoroughly  as  to  make  you  all  see  and 
understand  the  importance  of  this  fact.  How- 
ever, I can  show  you  in  these  Chats  how 
necessary  it  is  even  to  your  sex  organs  and 
what  they  throw  off,  to  make  you,  I hope, 
drink  plenty  of  water  throughout  all  your 
lives. 

The  bowels  must  be  emptied  every  day.  Any 
keeping  of  the  cast-off  material  of  the  intestines 
in  the  bowels  means  an  odorous  skin,  foul 
breath  and  other  disagreeable  odors,  no  matter 
how  clean  you  may  be  OUTWARDLY.  Then 
there  is  another  very  important  feature  of  this 
dried-up  state.  As  you  grow  older  the  arteries 
harden,  they  cannot  expand  and  contract  as 
the  blood  pressure  demands  they  should,  and 
when  any  strain  comes  upon  the  heart  or  blood 


WITH  GIRLS  47 

vessels,  these  latter  burst  and  apoplexy  is  the 
result. 

But  before  this  takes  place  there  has  been 
a failing  of  the  memory,  perhaps  of  the  intel- 
lect, because  the  proper  amount  of  blood  needed 
to  nourish  the  brain  cannot  pass  through  the 
tiny,  but  important  arteries  of  the  brain.  So 
some  kind  of  softening  of  the  brain  follows. 
“She  died  from  apoplexy”  is  said.  No,  she 
died  because,  when  a young  woman,  she  would 
not  drink  water  in  sufficient  quantities  to  keep 
her  organs  flushed  and  clear  of  accumulated 
material.  Now,  if  this  absence  of  water  in  the 
system  so  affects  the  brain,  its  arteries  and 
veins,  just  imagine  what  trouble  the  womb  will 
have  in  getting  enough  water  for  all  its  needed 
blood. 

But  there  is  a more  important  effect  that 
the  absence  of  plenty  of  water  in  the  system 
has  upon  the  girl.  It  is  a very  serious  matter 
to  her,  as  it  affects  her  attractiveness  and  hap- 
piness, and  this  is  what  we  want  to  get  at  in 
these  Chats. 

You  all  know  that  at  certain  times  girls  will 
have  more  or  less  an  odor  from  their  skins  and 
breaths.  It  is  very  noticeable  in  some  girls, 
and  in  others  of  the  most  careful  cleanliness 
and  habits  it  will  be  detected.  Perfumery  only 
makes  matters  worse;  the  attempt  to  cover  the 
natural  odors  is  too  marked. 


48 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


These  odors  are  all  caused  by  aeids  and 
other  chemical  materials  which  exist  in  the 
natural  secretions  of  the  body;  the  perspiration, 
breath  and  other  secretions.  The  less  water 
there  is  in  the  human  system,  the  more  will 
these  chemical  odors  pervade  the  atmosphere 
surrounding  the  girl. 

It  is  the  lack  of  plenty  of  water  that  causes 
the  skin  to  give  forth  odors.  If  you  have 
exercised  to  the  extent  of  bringing  on  profuse 
perspiration  and  have  not  drank  plenty  of 
water  before,  during  and  after  the  exercise,  no 
amount  of  bathing  will  prevent  an  odor  coming 
from  the  skin.  If  you  are  going  out  to  a 
dance  or  any  place  where  you  will  be  in  a 
warm  room,  you  will  not  be  able  to  disguise; 
the  chemical  odors  coming  from  the  skin. 

But  if  you  have  filled  your  system  with 
water  two  or  three  hours  before  going  out, 
your  skin  will  have  a delicious,  natural  odor. 

During  the  menstrual  period  every  gland 
in  the  growing  girl  is  very  active.  The  skin 
throws  off  an  extra  amount  of  perspiration,  the 
glands  under  the  arms  are  very,  extremely, 
active.  Then  at  this  time  the  breath  comes 
faster  than  usual  and  throws  off  its  poisons  in 
large  quantities.  All  these  off-castings  of  the 
body  are  loaded  with  material  that  must  leave 
the  body  if  we  are  to  keep  in  good  health. 
But  here  is  the  point.  You  can  so  saturate  your 


WITH  GIRLS 


49 


system  with  pure  water  that  all  these  fatty 
and  acid  odors  become  highly  diluted  and 
scarcely  any  of  them  will  make  their  presence 
known  to  those  around  you. 

Drinking  water  will  make  you  fat?  Non- 
sense. That  is  some  old  woman’s  tale — some 
old  woman  who  tries  to  excuse  herself  from 
drinking  water.  Water  will  not  make  you  fat 
nor  make  you  lean;  just  keep  you  in  the  good 
health  and  state  you  were  born  to  he  in.  Then 
it  helps  keep  the  bowels  clean,  gives  a good 
flow  to  the  blood  and  keeps  the  womb  free  from 
any  little  clots  being  left  over  from  your  last 
menstruation. 

How  much  water  shall  I drink?  Two  tum- 
blerfuls every  morning  before  breakfast,  two 
between  each  meal  and  as  much  at  meals  as 
you  want.  Don’t  bother  yourself  about  the  fads 
of  drinking  water,  such  as  none  at  meals,  for 
instance. 

Look  at  a horse ; he  drinks  when  he  is 
thirsty  and  he  drinks  all  he  wants.  Take  water 
away  from  a horse,  keep  it  away  from  him  as  it 
has  been  kept  away  from  girls  and  young 
women,  and  you  would  soon  see  his  coat  be- 
come dull,  sticky,  and  the  light  go  from  his 
eyes. 

Remember  that  a horse’s  coat  of  hair  cor- 
responds to  your  skin;  it  is  his  complexion. 
Deprive  yourself  of  water  and  your  skin  be- 


50 


CONFIDENTIAL'  CHATS 


comes  dull,  sticky  and  malodorous.  But  we 
shall  have  a lot  to  say  about  the  skin,  so 
nothing  more  now. 

With  all  this  good  habit  of  drinking  plenty 
of  water  must  go  the  application  of  water  to 
the  outside  of  the  body.  This  you  must  do  to 
wash  away  the  dried  crystals  of  all  the  chemi- 
cal materials  sent  out  from  the  skin  and  glands. 
Warm  SPONGE  baths,  while  you  are  men- 
struating, are  necessary.  I know  that  you  all 
have  been  told  never  to  take  a bath  while  your 
period  was  on,  but  you  see  that  you  must  get 
rid  of  these  tell-tale  odors  now  that  you  are 
out  in  the  world.  Of  course  you  must  be  care- 
ful not  to  take  cold;  you  should  not  use  any 
but  warm  water,  and  then  jump  into  bed 
warmly  covered.  Use  no  scented  soap,  not 
even  under  the  arms,  just  plain  castile  or  a 
similar  PURE  soap.  After  the  flow  has  ceased 
be  certain  to  wash  your  external  parts  with  a 
soft  sponge  and  pure  soap.  You  want  to  con- 
sider this  part  of  your  toilet  just  as  important 
as  washing  the  teeth  or  ears,  and  it  should  be 
done  in  the  same  unconcerned  and  unthinking 


manner. 


CHAPTER  IV 


THE  CARE  OF  THE  SKIN  AND  COMPLEXION 

All  girls  want  a good  complexion  and  a 
clear  skin.  The  skin  and  hair  are  the  glories 
of  a healthy  woman.  Most  of  you  can  have 
this  desired  state  of  a clear  skin  and  pure  com- 
plexion. A good  complexion  merely  means  a 
perfect  state  of  health.  A clear  skin  does  not 
depend  on  what  you  apply  to  it,  but  what  you 
keep  off  it. 

The  clear,  satin-like  skin,  the  skin  which 
looks  like  a transparent  piece  of  silk  laid  upon 
a soft  cushion  of  white  flesh,  and  that  sheeny 
skin  resembling  fine  velvet,  seen  in  the  pure 
blonde  type  of  girls,  are  all  the  effects  of  the 
blood  beneath  and  how  that  blood  is  treated 
by  the  emotions. 

Muddy  and  contaminating  thoughts  will 
cause  a muddy  skin.  Clean  and  clear  thoughts 
will  give  you  a clear  skin.  Jealousy  and  anger 
will,  in  time,  affect  the  flow  of  blood  through 
your  tiny  skin-veins  and  give  you  the  appear- 
ance of  age.  Any  emotion  which  causes  indi- 
gestion will  do  the  same  thing.  In  fact,  the 
state  of  mind  and  the  manner  in  which  you 

61 


52  CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 

control  your  thoughts  and  temper  are  reflected 
in  the  tone  of  the  skin. 

It  is  during  the  first  few  years  of  menstruat- 
ing that  the  girl  who  does  not  understand  these 
matters  commences  to  ruin  her  complexion. 
While  your  body  is  developing,  the  tiny  glands 
in  the  skin  are  undergoing  great  changes. 
These  changes  cause  the  glands  to  pour  out 
oily  matter,  perspiration  and  other  material,  all 
of  which  naturally  bring  about  a muddy  com- 
plexion in  some  girls  and  redness  of  the  nose, 
or  pimples  on  the  face,  in  others. 

These  conditions  are  natural  to  the  growing 
girl.  The  skin  is  clearing  itself  of  all  the  little 
girl’s  activities  and  making  ready  for  the 
woman’s  complexion.  It  is  Springtime  with 
the  skin,  and  this  dirt — or  what  looks  like  dirt — 
is  the  result  of  all  this  skin-cleaning.  Hair  is 
appearing  on  certain  parts  of  the  body;  that 
almost  invisible  down  which  all  women  possess, 
is  growing  on  all  portions  of  the  body  and 
face.  The  monthly  periods  are  causing  congested 
blood  vessels  throughout  the  whole  body  and 
especially  the  tiny  arteries  of  the  skin.  Every 
part  of  your  system  is  really  undergoing  a great 
change  and  does  not  get  into  a state  of  perfect 
health  until  you  are  eighteen  years  of  age 
and  over.  As  in  all  things  in  which  a decided 
revolution  takes  place,  there  is  more  or  less 
of  a disturbance. 


WITH  GIRLS 


53 


This  is  the  time  when  a girl  commences  to 
worry  about  her  complexion.  She  frets  and 
becomes  anxious  about  the  little  spots  appear- 
ing upon  her  face.  If  she  has  not  the  proper 
home  advice,  but  hears  all  sorts  of  tales  and 
sees  all  sorts  of  things  in  the  school  or  shop, 
she  soon  resorts  to  the  drug  stores  for  a face 
lotion,  powder  or  cream.  She  may  have  been 
told  by  an  older  girl  that,  “No,  I never  had 
anything  but  a good  complexion;  you’d  better 
take  something  for  yours,  I would,”  and  much 
more  of  this  kind  of  foolish  advice. 

Some  girls  go  through  the  period  of  develop- 
ment without  any  marked  change  in  their  com- 
plexion; others,  especially  brunettes,  will  have 
a “ broken-out-face,”  a hot  and  oily  skin  and 
not  infrequently  pimples  on  some  part  of  their 
bodies.  Girls  of  nervous  temperament  are  apt 
to  have  more  or  less  of  a spotted  complexion 
during  the  first  few  years  of  menstruation.  In 
all  these  girls  it  is  more  of  a sign  of  good 
health  than  otherwise,  and  if  the  skin  had  been 
left  alone, — which  it  has  not,  because  you  have 
never  known  the  truth, — ^the  quack  advertise- 
ments of  “ face  creams,”  “ skin  food,”  “ com- 
plexion wafers,”  and  all  the  other  skin  poisons 
and  complexion-destroyers,  would  never  have 
been  put  out  to  swindle  girls  and  women. 

Pimples  most  frequently  show  on  the  shoul- 
ders and  upper  arms,  and  unless  the  girl  knows 


54 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


that  these  really  mean  a splendid  complexion 
when  she  has  grown  to  full  womanhood,  she 
worries  herself  to  a point  that  makes  her  little 
life  miserable. 

This  is  the  point  in  a girl’s  life  where  she 
starts  in  to  ruin  her  complexion  forever.  She 
commences  to  fill  in  the  openings  made  to  let 
out  the  fatty  and  other  substances  in  her  skin, 
by  powdering,  applying  some  ointment  whieh 
keeps  these  pores  closed,  or  goes  to  bed  with 
greasy  or  other  injurious  “ skin  foods  ” upon 
her  face.  In  fact,  shfe  does  just  what  in  the 
end  will  give  her  a pasty  complexion  instead 
of  a clear  one.  Of  course  she  will  later  on 
take  to  the  rouge  and  powder  puffs  and  have 
to  keep  them  in  constant  use  until  her  skin  be- 
comes like  that  of  a dried  codfish. 

Please  remember  that  what  you  need  during 
the  first  years  of  your  menstrual  life  is  to  allow 
full  freedom  for  the  skin  to  get  rid  of  all  the 
material  your  state  is  producing  behind  the 
outer  skin.  This  material  must  come  away  if 
the  skin  is  to  be  a clear  and  healthy  one. 
‘Banking  up,  stopping  this  sweating  process  of 
the  glands  of  the  body,  will  ruin  your  com- 
plexion in  time.  You  would  not  attempt  to 
clean  a room  by  sweeping  all  the  dust  under 
the  carpet  and  not  expect  this  dust  to  be  always 
flying  up  and  making  the  room  dusty  and  ill- 
smelling? But  you  do  about  the  same  thing 


WITH  GIRLS 


55 


when  you  do  not  let  all  the  dirt  and  dust  come 
away  through  the  spring  cleaning  of  the  skin. 

The  period  of  your  development  is  the 
Springtime  of  your  life,  and  you  must  expect 
all  kinds  of  disagreeable  feelings  and  little 
annoyances  to  occur  during  this  period. 

Each  month,  just  as  your  menses  are  coming 
on,  you  will  find  little  pimples  or  some  redness 
on  your  face,  nose  or  shoulders;  perhaps  on  the 
arms.  You  should  not  want  to  go  to  dances 
or  entertainments  at  these  times;  in  fact  you 
should  not;  but  at  no  time  during  your  growth 
into  full  womanhood  should  you  wear  gowns 
with  short  sleeves  and  low  necks.  For  even 
between  the  menstrual  periods  there  will  be 
some  indications  upon  the  face  or  skin  which 
tell  the  story.  To  hide  these  little  eruptions 
or  redness  of  the  skin  you  have  to  apply  powder 
to  the  neck,  shoulders  and  arms.  What  are 
the  consequences?  The  perspiration,  due  to  the 
heat  of  the  room  and  the  exercise  of  dancing, 
keeps  the  inflammation  active  under  the  powder 
and  may  cause  such  pimples  that  the  scars 
are  left  forever. 

And  right  here  is  where  you  “ catch  cold.” 
Drafts,  sleeping  by  an  open  window  or  going 
from  a warm  room  to  a colder  one  do  not  give 
you  a cold.  You  may  catch  cold  by  doing  these 
things,  but  the  cause  is  something  which  has 
brought  about  a too  rapid  loss  of  heat  from 


56 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


the  body;  such  as  any  wrong  way  of  clothing  or 
underclothing  yourself;  low-neck  dresses  for 
winter;  or  covering  the  skin  with  powder  or 
enamel,  through  which  the  perspiration  can- 
not have  free  play  and  keep  the  temperature 
of  the  body  equal;  these  are  the  reasons  you 
“ catch  cold.” 

Those  girls  you  occasionally  see  with  a pitted 
skin  on  their  faces  and  shoulders,  are  those  who 
in  all  probability  prevented  the  natural  grease 
and  other  substances  from  getting  out  when 
they  were  in  the  first  two  or  three  years  of  their 
development.  They  have  generally  brought 
about  this  disagreeable  complexion  by  attempt- 
ing to  dress  as  full-grown  women  and  covering 
face,  shoulders  and  backs  with  some  kind  of 
lotion,  powder  or  cream. 

The  girl  who  was  noted  for  her  fine,  soft 
and  smooth  skin  when  she  was  eight  or  ten 
years  of  age,  commences  at  puberty  to  have 
pimples  and  blackheads  on  her  nose,  cheeks 
and  forehead.  This  being  about  the  time  she 
takes  more  notice  of  herself  and  others  around 
her,  these  little  facial  blotches  worry  her.  It 
is  the  opening  of  a new  life  and  much  atten- 
tion is  given  dress,  hair  and  complexion;  to 
her  whole  appearance.  She  brushes  and  fixes 
her  hair  with  great  care;  tries  all  sorts  of  ex- 
periments. She  probably  uses  the  brush  of  her 
older  sister  or  one  belonging  to  some  of  her 


WITH  GIRLS 


57 


family,  or  more  frequently  it  is  the  common  one 
at  school  or  in  the  store.  She  does  not  inten- 
tionally use  a dirty  brush,  nor  will  she  use  one 
which  she  has  the  least  suspicion  has  been  used 
by  the  unclean.  But  even  the  brush  of  her 
mother  or  sister  carries  germs  that  at  this  time 
do  much  injury  to  her  skin  and  scalp,  because 
the  skin  of  the  forehead  is  affected  by  the  germs 
which  get  to  the  scalp. 

This  germ  is  one  which  is  always  to  be  found 
in  the  glands  of  any  person’s  scalp  or  hairy 
portions  of  the  body.  These  glands  are  known 
as  the  sebaceous  glands.  They  are  the  ones 
which  secrete  the  oily  substance  that  is  neces- 
sary for  the  health  of  the  skin  and  hair.  You 
have  enough  of  the  oily  substances  in  your  own 
hair  and  skin,  and  it  is  usually  free  from  germs 
at  this  time  if  you  have  used  only  YOUR 
OWN  BRUSH.  But  the  moment  you  use  a 
brush  belonging  to  some  older  and  full-grown 
woman  you  carry  to  your  own  scalp  these  germs. 
If  some  of  the  other  germs  which  are  some- 
times found  upon  common  brushes  get  onto 
your  scalp,  there  is  another  trouble  for  you  to 
combat — dandruff.  In  the  first  case  you 

simply  add  oily  stuff  to  your  own  supply,  get 
over-much  of  the  oil;  in  the  other  case,  dan- 
druff is  piled  thick  with  the  fatty  material  and 
then  comes  scalp  disease. 

This  may  go  on  for  some  time  and  not 


58 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


noticeably  affect  you,  but  it  may  cause  in  a few 
weeks  a certain  form  of  eczema  about  the  fore- 
head and  even  the  face.  This  is  a very  im- 
portant matter  for  all  girls  and  jmung  women 
to  remember.  I have  shown  you  that  on  the 
approach  and  for  some  time  after  puberty, 
all  the  tiny  glands  of  the  skin  are  enlarged 
and  very  active,  so  you  can  now  see  that  there 
are  hundreds  of  thousands  of  little  holes  for  the 
germs  to  get  into,  and  they  do  so  from  the 
brushes  you  are  in  the  habit  of  using— that  is, 
most  of  you.  When  these  germs  have  located 
themselves  upon  the  scalp,  they  soon  commence 
to  show  the  fact  by  giving  you  a muddy  com- 
plexion. Sometimes  you  will  be  accused  of  not 
thoroughly  washing  your  face,  so  marked  is 
the  line  around  your  forehead  and  neck  made 
by  the  attack  of  these  germs.  When  the  open- 
ings of  the  glands  begin  to  gape,  the  effect  is 
not  agreeable  to  you  nor  to  your  friends. 

The  pimples  commence  to  irritate  you  on 
account  of  the  increase  of  the  oily  substance, 
and  soon  you  see  that  little  creamy  spot,  then 
you  or  a misguided  friend  will  squeeze  it  out. 
Often  before  this  harmful  procedure  is  gone 
through  with,  a formation  of  a little  cocoon- 
like body  is  formed  and  then  you  have  black- 
heads. This  is  not  all  dirt  as  is  generally 
supposed,  but  a little  cylinder  filled  with  fatty 
stuff,  water  and  some  dirt  from  the  skin.  If 


WITH  GIRLS 


59 


these  blackheads  keep  coining  and  if  you  go  on 
squeezing  them,  if  you  insist  upon  covering  the 
pimples  with  powder  or  lotion,  a real  skin 
disease  will  be  the  result.  This  skin  disease  we 
call  acne,  and  it  is  a difficult  and  trying  one 
to  cure.  Never  mind  all  those  fetching  ad- 
vertisements in  the  papers  which  claim  to  cure 
acne  in  a few  applications.  Don’t  touch  such 
harmful  stuff.  All  these  advertised  lotions  sim- 
ply COVER  UP  the  symptoms  of  the  dis- 
ease, drive  it  further  into  the  skin,  and  when 
you  finally  have  to  go  to  a reputable  doctor, 
too  much  harm  has  been  done  for  him  to  save 
you  from  being  marked  for  life.  Never  trifle 
with  advertised  cures,  go  to  a well-known 
doctor,  or  if  you  cannot  afford  to  pay  a 
specialist’s  price,  seek  one  at  the  outdoor 
clinics.  There  you  will  receive  the  same 
kind  and  careful  treatment  you  would  if 
you  went  to  his  office  in  an  automobile  of 
your  own. 

What  are  we  to  do  to  keep  from  having 
all  these  disagreeable  pimples  and  their  after- 
effects? Prevent  them.  You  understand;  not 
cure,  but  prevention;  for  I want  to  put  you 
all  in  a position  to  keep  from  having  any 
trouble  which  needs  a CURE  in  the  medical 
sense. 

The  first  thing  to  do  is  to  look  out  for  your 
scalp  as  soon  as  you  recognize  the  approach  of 


60 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


puberty  and  for  ever  after.  I do  not  mean 
that  even  a little  girl  should  ever  have  her 
scalp  neglected,  but  that  you  must,  as  soon  as 
your  menstrual  time  comes,  NEVER  use  any 
other  brush  than  your  own  and  this  must  be  a 
new  one.  No  matter  how  old  you  are,  get  a 
new  brush  every  few  months  and  guard  it  as 
you  would  your  jewels  or  your  most  precious 
gift.  You  should  consider  a brush  for  the  hair 
as  sacred  as  the  one  for  your  teeth.  You 
surely  would  not  think  of  brushing  your  teeth 
with  any  old  toothbrush  which  happened  to 
come  along;  neither  should  you  use  any  other 
hairbrush  but  your  own. 

And  all  this  is  such  a simple  matter,  for 
whatever  you  do,  wherever  you  go,  whether  you 
attend  school,  work  in  an  office  or  store,  you 
can  easily  carry  with  you  your  own  hairbrush 
as  you  do  your  own  toothbrush.  Of  course 
the  same  rule  applies  to  comb,  soap  and 
towel. 

The  habit  some  girls  have  of  brushing  and 
combing  each  other’s  hair  is  all  very  well  if 
only  your  brush  is  used  upon  your  hair,  and 
only  upon  your  hair.  As  a rule  girls  take  one 
brush  and  go  over  each  other’s  scalps,  thereby 
contaminating  all  the  scalps;  carrying  oily 
matter  from  head  to  head.  The  scalp  of  a 
blonde-haired  girl  is  not  kept  in  good  condi- 
tion by  the  same  quality  or  amount  of  secre- 


Of  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  r^SNOIS 


”®UK  ®M  THE  HILLS  IDE;’ 


WITH  GIRLS 


61 


tions  that  a brunette  requires;  a woman’s  scalp 
that  has  been  neglected  will  carry  to  a young 
woman’s  sensitive  skin  germs  which  will  affect 
her  scalp  and  complexion,  but  would  not  prob- 
ably affect  a middle-aged  person.  So  let  no 
person  use  your  brush  and  allow  no  other 
person’s  brush  used  upon  you. 

The  habit  of  promiscuously  kissing  each 
other  that  some  girls  at  this  age  of  puberty  so 
often  have,  is  a dangerous  habit,  because  you 
may  have  placed  upon  your  lips  some  of  the 
germs  which  cause  pimples,  and  then  comes 
trouble  again.  Anyway,  a girl  is  too  young 
to  be  kissed  and  not  old  enough  to  kiss — with- 
out danger  to  herself. 

There  are  many,  many  more  little  things 
which  cause  a poor  complexion  in  the  girl  and 
grown  woman.  First  of  all  is  that  curse  of 
American  girls  and  women — constipation — the 
result  of  our  false  and  injurious  prudery.  I 
warned  you  we  should  have  to  refer  to  it 
again  and  again,  for  it  is  a condition  that 
enters  into  the  cause  of  many  women’s  illnesses, 
indispositions,  tumors,  open  sores,  headaches 
and  other  avoidable  troubles. 

Allowing  any  of  the  cast-off  material  of  the 
stomach  and  intestines  to  remain  in  the  lower 
bowel  will  most  positively  cause  a muddy  and 
pimpled  skin.  The  reason  is  plain.  This 
material  is  dead  stuff  meant  to  be  cast  off 


62 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


out  of  the  body  EVERY  day.  If  it  remains 
in  the  body  it  putrefies,  forms  gases  and  acids, 
which  are  REabsorbed  into  your  system,  taken 
up  by  the  blood,  which  later  on  shows  it  in 
your  face.  Just  think  of  it!  Would  you 
like  to  go  around  with  all  the  signs  of  putrid 
matter  being  kept  in  your  body?  Of  course 
not;  yet  you  will  outwardly  show  these  signs 
if  you  do  not  keep  your  lower  bowels  always 
cleaned. 

What  is  the  best  way  to  keep  the  bowels 
clean? 

Regularity  in  your  habits  of  toilet  is,  first  of 
all,  the  most  important  factor.  Drinking  plenty 
of  water — you  see  I am  at  it  again — in  the 
morning,  is  next  in  importance.  Your  breakfast 
food  can  he  so  arranged  that  the  bowels  will 
empty  themselves  every  morning  if  the  habit 
and  water  drinking  have  been  carefully  looked 
after.  Fruit,  stewed  or  ripe,  should  be  taken 
every  morning.  Little  or  no  meat  is  needed 
nor  advisable  for  you  in  the  morning.  Cereals 
— real  cereals,  not  the  sawdust  and  roasted 
bread  crust  stuff — are  good  for  the  morning 
meal.  Plain,  old-fashioned  oatmeal  comes  first, 
then  hominy  or  similar  cereals. 

The  idea  that  buckwheat  or  other  breakfast 
cakes  cause  pimples  is  all  nonsense.  The  same 
is  true  about  syrups,  butter  or  sugar.  If  you 
have  flushed  your  stomach  and  intestines  with 


WITH  GIRLS 


63 


water  and  fruit,  you  may  eat  all  the  cakes 
and  sugar  you  wish.  Candy  does  not  affect 
your  complexion,  neither  do  cakes,  pie,  nor  any 
sweets  which  ARE  PURE  AND  EATEN 
AT  THE  PROPER  TIME. 

All  our  grandmothers’  scare  and  advice  about 
eating  candy  and  other  sweets  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  they  DO  harm  in  this  way.  Candy 
and  other  sweets  are  too  often  eaten  between 
meals  or  early  in  the  morning  and  thus  cause 
a lack  of  appetite.  With  this  loss  of  appetite, 
the  body  cannot  get  its  nourishing  and  bowel- 
cleansing food.  It  is  the  loss  of  this  nourishing 
food  and  the  natural  result  of  having  nothing 
in  the  intestines  which  will  wash  these  food 
tracts  out,  that  does  all  the  harm.  It  is  living 
unnaturally  to  be  in  such  a condition,  and  any 
unnatural  way  of  living  will  bring  about  un- 
health, and  this  will  be  shown  by  a poor  and 
nasty-looking  complexion,  a hot  skin  and  flabby 
flesh. 

Young  women  and  girls  often  need  sugar 
in  their  system  and  at  certain  times  will 
crave  it.  Other  girls  will  crave  something 
sour — pickles,  for  instance.  EAT  PICKLES 
AND  CANDY  IF  YOU  CRAVE  THEM. 
But  do  not  forget  that  first  you  must  have  had 
a breakfast  free  from  these  substances,  have 
thoroughly  emptied  your  bowels  and  had  a 
good  noon  meal.  After  these  good  meals  you 


64 


CONFIDENTIAL^  CHATS 


may  eat  candy,  pickles,  ice  cream,  any  old 
thing— IF  THE  MATERIALS  ARE 

PURE.  This  is  a very  important  matter. 
Eat  nothing  that  has  been  exposed  to  the  dust 
of  the  streets  or  any  filthy  place.  We  shall 
have  something  to  say  about  “ dope  ” drops 
and  candies  in  which  are  brandies,  cocaine  and 
other  drugs. 

The  girl  who  goes  out  at  noon  and  buys  for 
her  luncheon  eclaires,  doughnuts,  cream  puffs 
and  other  pastry,  and  makes  a meal  of  this 
stuff,  is  positively  going  to  have  a pasty  com- 
plexion, be  constantly  constipated  and  unable 
to  do  her  full  amount  of  work — school,  house 
Or  office.  If  she  has  taken  some  good  soup 
and  eaten  a little  nourishing  food,  THEN  the 
pastry  will  not  harm  her;  perhaps  do  her 
good. 

I have  said  nothing  about  eggs  or  fish.  I 
think  most  of  you  are  glad  of  it  and  know  the 
reason.  I have  had  thousands  of  girls  and 
young  women  under  my  charge  and  but  few  of 
them  could  eat  either  eggs  or  fish;  and  to  many, 
milk  was  positively  repulsive.  At  certain  times 
these  kinds  of  foods  are  nauseating  to  many 
girls  and  young  women.  Now  and  then  a 
young  woman  will  take  an  egg  or  a few  bites 
of  fish,  but  all  through  the  active  portion  of 
her  life  she  abhors  a diet  of  such  eatables.  It 
is  a case  of — 


WITH  GIRLS 


65 


'Jack  Spratt  could  ^at  no  pHe, 

His  wife  could  eat  no  fish; 

So  betwixt  them  both 
Each  had  a separate  dish. 

Do  not  force  yourself  to  eat  anything  that 
you  do  not  enjoy.  In  good  health  the  body 
will  know  what  it  needs.  If  it  needs  sugar,  it 
will  give  you  a craving  for  sugar;  if  you  need 
beef,  you  will  want  it.  The  cravings  for 
sweets  or  sours  only  become  unnatural  when 
they  are  eaten  to  the  exclusion  of  nourishing 
food.  If  you  have  the  HABIT  of  eating 
sweets  in  the  morning,  you  must  break  this 
habit.  You  got  into  the  habit  because  you  gave 
in  to  a natural  desire  at  an  unnatural  time. 

If  you  are  hungry  before  going  to  bed,  then 
you  will  benefit  by  taking  some  nourishing  and 
easily-digested  food.  Eating  at  night  will 
NOT  injure  your  complexion.  It  is  eating 
indigestible  food  which  ruins  the  complexion, 
and  before  bedtime  you  are  too  apt  to  eat  those 
foods  which  lie  all  night  in  your  stomach  and 
ferment  there.  This  is  a sure  and  quick  way 
to  bring  on  a muddy  complexion  and  a red 
nose. 

Never  drink  milk  with  beef,  pork  or  ham. 
But  I do  not  fear  this  tough  combination  in 
girls  or  women,  only  it  is  best  that  you  should 
know  that  such  a combination  will  remain  all 


66 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


night  in  your  stomach  and  let  you  know  it 
for  a few  days  afterwards. 

I know  that  the  majority  of  girls  and  women 
who  are  out  in  the  selfish  world,  including 
schoolgirls,  do  not  fully  realize  the  great  im- 
portance of  proper  food  eaten  at  the  proper 
time,  that  is,  the  bearing  it  has  upon  all  their 
growing  powers.  If  they  did,  we  should  not 
have  all  these  patent  medicines  for  skin,  womb, 
stomach,  headaches,  and  all  the  other  doped  stuff, 
which  is  ruining  hundreds  of  thousands  of  those 
who  ought  to  be  the  mothers  of  the  future  gen- 
eration. I say  ought  to  be,  because  unless  you 
girls  take  hold  at  once  and  absorb  these  facts 
I have  been  telling  you,  and  shall  tell  you, 
many,  yes,  most  of  you,  will  weep  throughout 
a childless  life. 

What  shall  I apply  to  my  face? 

Nothing  but  water  and  pure  soap. 

Does  not  washing  the  face  in  water,  hot  or 
cold,  bring  on  wrinkles? 

No,  never.  Did  you  ever  see  wrinkles  upon 
your  canary  bird?  Don’t  you  have  a bath 
ready  for  her  every  morning?  What  made  the 
Greek  and  Roman  maidens  so  beautiful  in  faee, 
figure  and  complexion?  Baths,  bathing  their 
bodies  and  faces  daily. 

But  they  used  facial  ointments,  powders  and 
creams.  No,  not  the  pure  maidens  or  matrons; 
only  the  other  kind. 


WITH  GIRLS 


67 


If  a woman,  when  young,  was  foolish  or 
ignorant  enough  to  use  powder  or  grease  upon 
her  face  and  kept  it  up,  when  she  gets  to  be 
thirty-five  or  so,  she  has  to  resort  to  enameling 
her  face.  If  now  she  allowed  her  face  to  be 
thoroughly  washed  by  either  cold  or  warm 
water,  she  would  have  wrinkles,  big,  deep  ones. 
She,  of  course,  does  not  believe  in  water  on 
the  face  and  will  tell  you  so;  she  has  her 
reason.  And  the  reason  is  this:  For  years 

she  has  been  maltreating  her  skin  by  stopping 
the  natural  oil  from  leaving  the  skin  glands. 
As  time  went  on  she  has  applied  the  necessary 
powder — necessary  to  her — then  had  to  use 
some  form  of  facial  cream,  increasing  the  amount 
year  by  year.  There  has  been  no  opportunity 
for  the  skin  to  stretch  or  relax,  to  work  out 
its  secretions,  it  remains  almost  immovable; 
consequently  ridges  and  furrows  form,  and  a 
good  wash  brings  out  the  wrinkles  and  also 
her  secret. 

There  is  no  harm  in  having  the  face  massaged 
when  you  are  tired,  dusty  and  your  skin  feels 
tightly  stretched.  But  having  it  gently  rubbed 
and  washed  with  cold  water,  then  protected 
by  a veil  as  you  go  out  into  the  fresh  air,  is 
an  entirely  different  matter  from  having  it 
rubbed  by  one  who  fills  in  the  open  pores  with 
a “ facial  cream  ” or  some  “ beautifier.”  There 
is  only  one  beautifier,  and  that  is  GOOD 


68 


CONFIDENTIAIi  CHATS 


HEALTH.  And  once  you  get  it  you  do  not 
have  to  apply  it  every  day.  It  will  stand  the 
rain  and  the  sun,  will  defy  heat  and  salt  sprays, 
will  be  always  by  your  side  wherever  you  go 
and  not  put  you  in  the  awful  condition  of  a 
well-known  professional  beauty  I once  knew. 

This  woman  was  traveling  and  became  ill. 
I was  sent  for,  but  when  I arrived  I was  told 
by  the  maid  that  Madame  could  not  see  me 
at  that  hour.  Now  the  case  was  important; 
the  woman  was  suffering  and  in  danger.  Never 
mind,  she  simply  COULD  NOT  see  me  for  sev- 
eral hours.  She  went  into  a delirium  and  was 
finally  taken  to  a hospital  for  mental  invalids. 

Why  wouldn’t  she  see  me?  Because  her  fine 
and  notorious  complexion  had  been  left  behind, 
and  as  the  suffering  from  her  pain  had  caused 
her  to  freely  perspire,  the  perspiration  had 
opened  up  all  her  wrinkles  and  furrows. 

Unless  the  skin  of  the  whole  body  is  freely 
M^ashed,  the  neglect  will  show  on  the  complex- 
ion. A bath  every  morning  is  the  secret  of 
many  bright  and  rosy  cheeks.  If  you  are  so 
situated  that  you  cannot  get  a tub  bath  every 
morning,  winter  and  summer,  you  certainly 
can  get  a big  sponge  and  have  a sponge  bath 
in  your  room.  Let  the  water  run  down  jmur 
spine,  especially  down  the  small  of  your  back. 
Give  your  face  a good  dose  of  cold  water.  A 
shower  on  the  face  will  keep  wrinkles  away 


WITH  GIRLS 


69 


until  late  in  life.  Do  not  stop  your  bathing 
because  you  are  unwell,  only  use  warm  or  tepid 
water.  I know  that  many  girls  are  told  not 
to  even  put  their  hands  in  cold  water  while 
menstruating.  This  is  utter  nonsense,  if  the 
girl  is  otherwise  in  good  health.  These  old 
ideas  have  done  much  harm  and  kept  girls  from 
benefiting  themselves  by  helping  Nature  in  all 
her  growths. 

Cold  baths  will  keep  your  flesh  firm  and  hard ; 
will  take  off  fat  if  you  are  too  fat,  and  put  on 
flesh  if  you  are  too  lean.  Like  everything  in 
nature,  the  improvement  comes  slowly,  but  it 
certainly  comes.  You  should  commence  the 
baths  in  the  summer  and  keep  them  up  so  that 
when  the  cold  weather  comes  the  change  is  not 
very  noticeable.  Of  course  all  this  should  be  done 
in  a warm  room  and  you  should  have  a warm 
rug  to  stand  upon.  Be  sure  to  take  a good 
rub  with  a coarse  towel. 

This  brings  us  to  some  simple  form  of  exer- 
cise you  can  do  at  this  time  which  will  help 
the  bowels  to  empty  themselves  by  toning  the 
muscles  of  the  abdomen — the  stomach,  you 
call  it. 

These  exercises  consist  in  bending  the  body 
from  your  waist  several  times,  then  swinging 
from  side  to  side.  You  do  this  with  your  feet 
close  together  and  with  straightened  knees. 
Bend  forwards  and  downwards,  touching  the 


70 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


floor  with  the  tips  of  your  fingers  without  bend- 
ing the  knees.  Keep  it  up  until  you  can 
do  it  without  effort.  Then  swing  your  body 
from  side  to  side,  twisting  and  turning  from 
the  hips.  Nothing  will  giA^e  you  a more  grace- 
ful figure  than  these  forms  of  moA^ements.  Keep 
up  this  exercise  all  through  your  active  life,  and 
with  all  the  other  advice  I have  and  shall  give 
you,  you  can  be  attractive  even  when  the  gray 
hairs  have  made  their  appearance. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  these  Chats  to  advise 
you  in  purely  medical  matters,  that  is  to  tell 
you  what  to  do  in  illness  and  what  medicines 
to  take.  The  purpose  of  these  talks  is  to  put 
you  in  possession  of  knowledge  that  will  bring 
you  to  full  womanhood,  a strong,  healthy  woman 
to  whom  marriage  and  children  Avill  be  a state 
of  happiness  for  both  husband  and  wife,  or  to 
a state  of  content,  if  you  choose  “ single 
blessedness.”  But  in  the  matter  of  constipa- 
tion, I think  it  Avill  do  no  harm  to  tell  you 
that,  if  you  Avill  take  once  a week  a table- 
spoonful of  SODIUM  PHOSPHATE,  you 
will  be  benefited.  This  sodium  phosphate 
should  be  taken  before  breakfast  in  a full  glass 
of  water. 

What  about  thin  hair,  split  hairs,  that  dead- 
feeling hair?  , 

If  this  condition  is  found  in  the  young 
woman,  it  is  ninety-nine  times  out  of  a hundred 


WITH  GIRLS  71 

her  own  fault,  or  due  to  her  ignorance  of  what 
the  scalp  and  hair  need. 

It  is  because  she  has  piled  a lot  of  dead 
and  often  diseased  hair  on  top  of  her  healthy 
and  growing  hair.  Put  a bunch  of  dead  matter 
upon  live  and  growing  matter  and  what  is  the 
result?  Death,  decay! 

Most  of  the  fashions  in  hair  and  dress  origi- 
nate in  those  wdiose  lives  and  age  compel  some 
artificial  aid  to  attract  attention.  These  foolish 
and  freakish  fashions  are  not  for  the  young 
W'oman  to  adopt.  Take  the  fashion  of  long 
trains,  for  example.  The  women  of  Paris 
seldom  walk,  they  go  about  in  automobiles  or 
carriages.  Now,  sitting  in  these  open  con- 
veyances it  attracts  attention  to  have  a long 
folding  train  wrapped  around  the  sitting  figure 
and  pulled  up  at  the  ankles  to  show  a dainty 
slipper  and  silken  hosiery.  Don’t  you  see  how 
ridiculous  it  is  for  a good  young  woman  who 
has  to  walk  to  her  daily  work  or  school,  to  try 
to  copy  a fashion  which  is  intended  for  an 
entirely  different  class  of  women?  Yet,  wdien 
trains  were  the  fashion,  you  all  did  it. 

You  are  doing  about  the  same  foolish  thing 
now  with  your  head.  Head-gear — that  is  the 
best  name  for  it — is  intended  for  women  whose 
age  has  depleted  them  of  much  hair  or  whose 
lives  have  been  such  that  their  hair  has  become 
dead  through  bleaching  or  other  injurious  pro- 


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CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


cesses — these  women  must  repair  the  damage. 
Wigs  are  too  evident,  so  these  women  buy  the 
hair  which  once  graced  or  disgraced  some  other 
women,  and  pile  it  up  in  freakish  forms  and 
call  it  the  latest  fashion.  The  American  girl 
and  young  woman  immediately  follow  “ the 
fashion,”  and  then  you  ask  me  what  to  do  for 
thin  hair  and  dead  tresses! 

Now,  if  you  keep  up  this  heathenish  fashion 
of  ruining  your  own  beautiful  hair,  many  of 
you  will  not  only  have  thin  hair,  but  become 
BALDHEADED.  False  hair,  such  as 
“ puffs,”  “ rats,”  frames,  pads,  “ transforma- 
tions,” “ pin  curls  ” and  ‘‘  mouse-traps,”  will  do 
the  trick  for  you.  Even  the  artifieial  means 
used  to  puff  out  the  natural  hair  will  ulti- 
rnately  injure  it — injure  it  beyond  repair. 

All  the  false  hair  with  the  appliances  to  keep 
it  in  shape,  press  on  the  scalp  and  impede  the 
circulation  of  the  blood,  and  the  part  of  the 
scalp  it  should  supply  will  wither  and  lose  all 
life.  The  result  of  any  pressure  on  the  blood 
vessels  of  the  scalp  is  that  the  roots  of  the 
hair  become  impoverished,  and  in  time  the 
hair  gets  so  thin  and  weak  that  it  drops  out. 

Very  little,  if  any,  air  can  get  to  the  scalp 
when  you  are  “ following  the  fashion,”  which 
is  just  now  in  vogue.  Stop  this  injurious  and 
ridiculous  wearing  of  false  puffs,  pads,  and 
especially  “ transformations.” 


WITH  GIRLS 


73 


I have  seen  schoolgirls  and  typists  with 
enough  rigging  of  false  hair  and  rusty  wires 
upon  their  heads  to  give  a strong  man  a con- 
stant headache  and  make  him  bald  in  a month. 
Your  hair  also  falls  out  rapidly  and  con- 
stantly, but  as  you  are  blessed  at  the  start 
with  more  luxuriant  and  more  active  growth 
in  the  scalp,  it  takes  longer  for  the  injury 
to  show.  But  it  is  only  a matter  of  time, 
not  effect. 

Then  there  is  another  matter  which  you  do 
not  fully  realize — all  good  and  worthy  men 
detest  this  ill-smelling  and  dead  hair  you  pile 
upon  your  heads.  You  lose  all  your  fresh  ap- 
pearance, all  the  looks  of  a maiden,  all  the 
proofs  of  innocence.  Your  complexion  takes 
on  the  hue  of  the  dead  hair,  and  when  the 
fashion  passes  you  can  never  get  back  the 
shining,  luxuriant  tresses  men  so  dearly  admire. 
Men  and  youths  may  not  have  told  you  these 
truths,  but  way  down  in  their  hearts  they  will 
pick  a girl  for  a wife  or  sweetheart  who  has 
not  the  smell  of  a dead  Chinaman,  or  whose 
hair  has  been  the  abiding  place  * for  an  old 
“ mouse-trap  ” and  left  the  mousy  odors. 

The  best  way  to  insure  a good  head  of  hair 
is  to  wear  it  loose  and  free,  without  any  artificial 
aids  and  appliances.  Of  course  you  may  dress 
it  any  way  it  pleases  you,  but  aside  from  pins 
it  should  never  have  any  other  pressure  upon  it. 


74 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


The  hair  should  be  washed  frequently  in  water 
with  a little  powdered  borax,  but  remember  you 
wash  the  hair  only  to  clean  the  scalp,  nothing 
should  be  applied  to  the  hair  directly. 

There  is  another  fashion  which  has  made  many 
a girl  suffer  from  headaches,  thinned  her  hair 
and  injured  her  complexion.  This  is  the  wear- 
ing of  tight  collars,  neck  bands,  and  those  tor- 
turing things  with  points  you  wear  stuck  right 
up  under  the  ears.  I forget  now  what  you  call 
them,  and  I won’t  tell  you  what  I call  them, 
for  it  would  not  sound  nice  to  polite  ears. 
But  if  you  keep  on  wearing  them  a man 
will  be  able  to  say  almost  anything  without 
you  being  able  to  hear  him;  for  you  will  be 
deaf. 

The  reason  these  tight  collars  do  so  much  in- 
jury is  that  they  compress  the  arteries  and  veins 
of  the  neck,  which  at  this  part  of  the  body  are 
near  the  surface.  They  are  large,  full-blooded 
vessels  and  bring  the  blood  to  and  return  it  from 
brain  and  scalp.  I have  known  girls  to  faint 
simply  from  the  compression  due  to  tight  collars 
or  bands  around  the  neck.  They  will  almost 
invariably  cause  headaches,  and  every  one  of 
you  know  of  the  great  relief  you  derive  from 
taking  them  off  and  putting  on  a loose  wrap 
or  dressing  sack.  I have  known  women  to 
suffer  violent  pains  in  the  head,  then  dizziness 
and  final  collapse,  by  preventing  a free  circu- 


WITH  GIRLS 


75 


lation  through  the  brain.  The  same  blood  ves- 
sels supply  the  skin,  and  when  these  are  stopped 
from  nourishing  the  skin  what  do  you  get? 
A poor,  pale  and  finally  diseased  skin,  a starved 
face. 


CHAPTER  V 


NERVES  AND  THE  NERVOUS  GIRL 

It  seems  that  not  anything  worth  while  in 
this  world  is  gained  without  self-fighting  and 
worry.  The  great  things  that  are  accomplished 
by  men  and  women  are  accomplished  only 
through  will  power,  determination  and  con- 
centration. Determination  is  different  from 
will  power  in  tliis  respect:  one  may  be  deter- 
mined to  do  a thing  but  find  that  she  has  not 
the  nervous  power  to  carry  out  the  determina- 
tion. In  other  words,  the  nervous  force  is  really 
the  basis  of  all  will  power.  So  all  the  factors 
which  go  to  make  for  self-control  and  con- 
centration upon  whatever  you  have  decided 
upon  doing,  are  dependent  upon  a good  and 
perfectly  adjusted  nervous  system.  Without 
a powerful  nervous  force  we  would  be  nothing 
but  eating  and  sleeping  animals. 

The  men  and  women  who  do  not  know  from 
any  personal  feeling  that  there  is  a tremendous 
force  in  a trained  nervous  system  are  those 
who  do  nothing  for  the  world’s  progress;  they 
only  eat,  sleep  and  automatically  labor.  Many 
who  have  plenty  of  nervous  force  but  do  not 

76 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


77 


know  what  it  means,  and  hence  cannot  con- 
trol it  and  use  it  for  the  benefit  of  man  and 
themselves,  are  those  who  throw  it  away 
in  dissipations,  abnormal  excitement  and 
riotous  living. 

To  have  a highly-sensitive  nervous  organiza- 
tion is  the  greatest  gift  a woman  can  have; 
but  unless  she  early  knows  its  value  and  how 
to  train  it,  it  becomes  a curse  to  her.  It  will 
run  away  with  all  her  impulses — good  and 
bad — and  finally  separate  her  from  her  womanly 
stability. 

We  hear  a lot  about  “ nervous  women  and 
girls  ” ; and  that  the  condition  is  increasing, 
due  to  our  rapid  way  of  living  and  all  the 
pressure  of  trying  to  keep  up  the  pace  civiliza- 
tion has  set.  I have  lived  most  of  my  life  among 
nervous  women  and  girls,  and  have  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  truth  of  the  matter  is, 
that  instead  of  being  due  to  our  rapid  pace  of 
living  and  working,  it  is  really  due  to  the  fact 
that  most  girls  have  never  been  taught  to  train 
and  control  their  nervous  forces. 

These  nervous  girls  and  women  are  mostly 
those  who  are  not  over-nervous,  but  simply 
never  have  developed  a nervous  force  that  could 
keep  pace  with  their  physical  and  emotional 
activities.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  their  im- 
pulses get  the  better  of  them,  they  crave  abnor- 
mal excitements,  want  to  be  on  the  go  constantly. 


78 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


cannot  be  contented  with  simple  and  honorable 
home  duties  and  finally  merge  into  a condition 
where  they  have  to  seek  the  doctor  or  else  go 
to  a sanitarium. 

Now  just  consider  for  a moment  some  simple 
facts.  You  are  taught,  early  in  life,  the  necessity 
of  exercising  in  order  to  develop  and  he  able  to 
control  your  muscles.  You  are  told  to  “ learn 
to  control  your  temper,”  but  unless  you  are  in 
perfect  physical  condition,  with  plenty  of  re- 
serve nervous  force,  which  is  really  will  force, 
to  use  when  you  need  it  most,  how  are  you  to 
“ control  your  temper  ” ? 

I have  tried  to  tell  you  how  necessary  it  is 
that  all  your  organs  should  be  kept  in  per- 
fect condition  by  knowing  what  they  are, 
and  what  they  do  and  how  to  help  them 
in  doing  the  right  thing.  Your  teachers 
are  constantly  at  you  to  make  you  train  your 
memory,  to  keep  your  mind  upon  your  studies, 
or  else  your  employer  is  nagging  you  to  pay 
more  attention  to  what  you  are  told.  And 
how  many  of  you  try  to  do  all  this  and  do  not 
succeed ! 

“ Train  every  faculty,  build  up  your  abili- 
ties ” ; do  this  or  don’t  do  that ; always  some- 
thing is  dinned  into  your  ears  about  what  you 
should  do  to  improve  yourself.  But  the  one 
force,  THE  power  which  is  at  the  bottom  of 
every  impulse  or  act,  nerve  activity,  is  left  un- 


WITH  GIRLS  79 

mentioned  as  a force  to  be  trained  first,  always 
and  last  of  all  the  forces  in  your  body. 

“ She  has  such  a bad  temper  ” is  a remark 
we  hear  time  after  time.  “ If  she  would  only 
learn  to  control  her  outbreaks;  don’t  get  out 
of  temper,”  and  similar  expressions  are  only 
too  frequently  heard  in  homes  and  at  school — 
everywhere.  No  wonder  the  helpless  girl  be- 
comes discouraged  and  disgusted  when  she  is 
scolded  for  petty  explosions  which  she  would 
gladly  know  how  to  stop. 

A girl  without  a temper  doesn’t  amount  to 
much.  It  is  a proper  attitude  of  revolt  against 
personal  wrong  or  injustice.  It  is  the  birth- 
right of  every  normal  woman.  It  belongs  to 
her  protective  instincts.  And  what  is  temper? 
Just  the  explosion  of  a highly  nervous  tempera- 
ment. Explosion,  mind  you,  not  a decent  ex- 
pression of  righteous  indignation.  The  differ- 
ence is  that  one  is  uncontrolled  nervous  force, 
the  other  is  the  same  expression  of  nervous 
force  held  in  check,  governed  by  long  training 
and  handled  for  some  forthright  deeds.  It  is 
the  preserving  of  this  nervous  force  so  as  to 
be  able  to  utilize  it  for  some  valuable  work, 
that  makes  the  difference  between  wasted  energy 
and  useless  efforts  and  applied  energy  with 
useful  results. 

The  nervous  force  in  woman,  including  the 
brain,  is  the  last  to  become  fully  developed. 


80 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


but  it  should  be  the  first  to  be  considered  in 
your  training.  It  means  self-control,  and  there 
is  no  better  evidence  of  good  birth,  well-poised 
personality  and  perfect  physical  health,  than 
control  over  one’s  impulses  and  words. 

A girl  with  these  qualities  will  soon  get  a 
husband  who  will  be  kept  as  a husband. 

To  get  self-control  you  must  go  at  it  in  the- 
same  systematic  manner  as  you  do  physical  ex- 
ercise. In  this  latter  matter  schools  and  clubs 
have  gymnasiums  for  you;  there  are  athletic 
games  played  under  instructors  of  physical  cul- 
ture who  teach  you  how  to  exercise  along  lines 
which  will  give  you  good  bodily  health;  but  the 
apparatus  you  need  first  of  all,  that  for  building 
and  strengthening  the  nervous  system  and  the 
nervous  energy  wFich  goes  into  your  sex  de- 
velopment, are  merely  mentioned  in  some  homes 
and  schools  and  in  some  others  never  mentioned. 
You  need  a perfectly-balanced  nervous  organi- 
zation and  one  under  your  complete  control 
before  you  can  benefit  from  any  physical  ex- 
ercise. 

“ But,”  you  say,  “ is  not  physical  exercise  a 
means  of  building  up  the  nervous  organiza- 
tion?” 

No,  only  indirectly.  This  body  of  ours,  the 
mere  bones,  muscles  and  organs,  is  only  the 
frame  of  our  human  machine,  just  as  the  steel 
body  and  wheels  are  that  of  an  automobile. 


WITH  GIRLS 


81 


No  matter  how  strong  that  frame  is,  no  matter 
what  fine  material  has  gone  into  the  work- 
manship, it  is  absolutely  worthless  unless  the 
motor  which  is  to  drive  it  is  powerful  enough  to 
send  it  along  with  ease,  and  moreover  be  one 
which  can  readily  and  safely  always  run  under 
control. 

The  motor  that  runs  our  bodies  is  the  nervous 
system,  and  if  you  have  a body  so  highly 
developed  as  to  fatigue  the  nervous  motor,  then 
a nervous  breakdown  is  certain  to  occur.  If 
you  have  a nervous  mechanism  too  strong  for 
the  body  it  will  run  away  with  you  and  then 
we  have  another  kind  of  “ nervous  break- 
down ” — hysteria,  melancholy,  insomnia,  drug 
habit  or  worse. 

The  nervous  affections  of  girls  and  women 
are  generally  due  to  one  of  these  causes  I 
have  outlined- — unevenness  in  bodily  develop- 
ment or  nervous  development.  They  should 
balance  each  other,  work  together  and  both 
become  tired  and  demand  rest  at  the  same  time. 

The  secretions  of  the  skin,  kidneys,  liver  and 
other  internal  organs  are  controlled  through  the 
nervous  system.  So  are  the  functions  of  the 
womb,  ovaries  and  even  the  heart.  Why  does 
your  heart  beat  so  rapidly  after  a fright  or 
great  excitement?  Because  your  nervous  motor 
is  running  beyond  your  control.  Why  does  a 
girl’s  monthly  occurrence  sometimes  stop  after 


82 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


a great  fright  or  skip  a period  or  two  during 
some  deep  grief  or  emotional  experience?  Be- 
cause the  nervous  organization  of  the  whole 
body  was  put  to  excessive  work  and  then  had 
to  stop  for  a rest.  Having  become  temporarily 
exhausted  the  fine  little  nerve  endings  in  the 
organs  cannot  do  their  allotted  work,  hence 
no  secretions  can  push  their  way  out  of  the 
closed  cells.  For  these  nerve  fibers  open  and 
close  the  cells  which  secrete  the  materials  that 
should  be  cast  off  at  regular  intervals. 

Not  being  able  to  do  so  the  girl  becomes 
“ tired,”  has  headaches,  feels  “ all  out  of  sorts.” 
Then  she  thinks  something  is  wrong  with  her, 
her  good  mother  gives  her  “ tonics  ” or  “ blood 
medicine  ” and  she  is  told  to  exercise. 

What  she  needs  instead  of  exercise  or  medi- 
cines is  rest;  as  much  rest  and  food  as  she  can 
contentedly  stand.  The  only  exercise  such  a 
condition  calls  for  is  deep  breathing  and  this 
more  to  furnish  fresh  blood  which  the  full 
lungs  give,  than  for  the  exercise  itself.  If  we 
could  conveniently  get  fresh  air  into  the  lungs 
by  some  method  other  thar\  breathing  it,  it 
would  be  better  still,  for  even  the  effort  of 
deep  breathing  calls  for  some  use  of  the  nervous 
force,  and  the  least  possible  disturbance  of  this 
force,  the  quicker  will  the  girl  or  woman  recover 
her  full  nervous  strength. 

If  you  have  exercised  beyond  the  power  of 


WITH  GIRLS 


83 


the  nervous  system  to  send  full  impulses  to  the 
skin  so  that  it  will  pour  out  its  poisons,  some 
of  this  poison  remains  in  the  body  and  sets  up 
a condition  known  as  auto-intoxication,  which 
only  means  self-poisoning.  All  kinds  of  nervous 
affections  arise  from  this  state. 

The  same  conditions  are  brought  about  by 
the  poisons  of  the  liver,  if  the  delicate  nerves 
of  this  big  sewer  of  the  body  are  too  tired  to 
open  up  all  the  little  ducts  and  channels  and 
let  out  the  poisons  which  the  liver  has  taken 
up  from  the  blood  in  your  body.  And  so  we 
might  go  on  into  more  physiology,  showing 
you  that  much  of  the  nervousness  among  girls 
comes  from  over-exercise,  instead  of  under- 
exercise. Probably  more  of  the  trouble  arises 
from  exercising  at  wrong  times;  at  times  when 
the  nervous  organization  has  all  it  can  do  to 
regulate  sex  growth  and  development  of  the 
girl.  At  this  time  to  pull  out  a lot  of  nervous 
power  to  make  muscles  work  and  grow  big,  must 
result  in  some  nervous  organ  being  deprived  of 
its  needed  nerve  cell  assistance. 

In  these  facts  lies  the  cause  for  so  many 
nervous  wrecks  in  young  women  and  wives. 
Nature  gives  the  nervous  system  of  all  growing 
girls  constant  and  concentrating  work  to  do.  It 
has  to  take  care  of  all  the  new  organs  of  secre- 
tions, see  that  the  breasts  are  fully  supplied 
with  cells  ready  to  do  their  work  when  mother- 


84 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


hood  approaches,  fit  its  tiny  but  powerful  nerve 
endings  to  the  womb  and  ovaries,  develop  the 
brain  and  instincts  along  proper  and  healthful 
lines,  furnish  power  to  the  million  cells  of  the 
scalp  and  skin,  watch  that  the  stomaeh  pours 
out  a proper  amount  of  digestive  fluid  at  a 
time  when  the  girl  has  a craving  for  strange 
“ eatables  ” such  as  slate  pencils  or  gum  arabic. 
The  hard  and  enduring  efforts  of  the  nervous 
system  to  keep  the  girl  well  balanced  in  her 
thoughts  all  the  time  she  is  undergoing  these 
necessary  changes,  should  never  be  overlooked. 

No  girl  between  fourteen  and  twenty  years 
of  age  should  ever  train  for  physical  contests 
or  any  form  of  athletic  competition.  A girl 
should  train  for  her  future  work — motherhood — 
and  for  tliis  wonderful  and  glorious  contest  for 
bringing  onto  the  earth  the  best  possible  men 
and  women,  she  must  have  the  highest  form  of 
nervous  development,  with  all  that  this  implies. 

The  best  way  to  help  all  this  effort  of  Nature 
to  give  you  a nervous  system  which  will  stay 
by  you  when  the  worries  and  trials  of  life 
come,  is  never  to  over-exercise  at  any  time,  and 
not  to  exercise  at  all  for  a few  days  before  and 
a few  days  after  your  periods.  This  is  the 
time  when  your  body  needs  all  the  reserve 
power  for  one  purpose. 

How  can  I tell  when  I need  rest  instead  of 
exercise? 


WITH  GIRLS 


85 


The  best  sign  is  when  you  think  that  you 
ought  to  exercise  but  don’t  feel  like  making 
the  effort.  Many,  many  a girl  has  become  a 
nervous  wreck  because  someone  forced  her 
to  exercise  when  she  needed  to  be  quiet  and 
at  rest. 

Never  exercise  unless  the  anticipation  of  the 
play  or  game  is  a pleasure  to  you.  When 
you  get  into  that  state  of  mind  such  as,  “ Oh, 
I don’t  feel  like  making  the  effort;  I’d  rather 
sit  here  and  read,  or  talk  ” — if  you  feel  like 
that,  if  you  have  to  make  up  your  mind  that 
you  must  exercise,  but  it  is  difficult  to  find 
any  pleasure  in  the  thing  you  are  thinking  of 
doing;  don’t  try  to  do  it. 

If.  you  make  determined  efforts  to  do  any 
physical  work  that  is  distasteful  to  you,  if  you 
work  by  the  clock,  then  you  are  injuring  your- 
self every  minute  you  are  at  it.  You  are 
drawing  upon  your  nervous  capital,  not  upon 
the  interest.  This  is  the  secret  of  all  exercise, 
brain  or  muscle:  work  must  be  done  upon 
saved-up  interest,  not  upon  the  capital.  If 
you  use  the  capital,  it  only  means  for  the  body 
what  it  would  mean  for  the  purse — bankruptcy 
— sure  and  certain  failure. 

Any  physical  effort  which  leaves  you  feeling 
worse  than  when  you  started,  is  injuring  you. 
This  does  not  mean  a good  physically  tired 
feeling,  one  in  which  your  cheeks  are  aglow. 


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when  you  feel  elated  at  what  you  have  done, 
when  a cold  shower  bath  feels  good  instead  of 
making  you  shiver  and  covered  with  “ goose- 
flesh,”  but  that  feeling  of  complete  exhaustion, 
pale  cheeks,  a feeling  of  shivering  if  cold 
baths  are  mentioned  and  a longing  for  some- 
thing to  drink  that  will  brace  you  up.  When 
this  latter  state  is  yours,  you  have  over-exercised 
or  else  exercised  at  a time  when  your  nervous 
motor  needed  a rest,  not  disturbance. 

You  sometimes  hear  it  said,  “ Why,  she  is 
the  last  girl  in  the  world  I thought  would  ever 
get  nervous  troubles.  She  is  the  best  girl  on 
the  team — Oh!  you  ought  to  see  her  muscles.”^ 

Yes,  but  you  should  also  see  those  worn-out 
nerve  cells. 

Misdirected  ambition,  a forgetfulness  that  she 
had  only  a certain  amount  of  nervous  power, 
an  excitement  which  blinded  her  to  her  real 
condition;  these  were  the  factors  which  made 
her  drive  her  motor  far  beyond  its  powers. 
Finally  there  was  no  more  nervous  energy  to 
move  her  over-developed  muscles  without  fa- 
tigue, and  fatigue  has  its  own  poisons  which 
penetrate  the  whole  body  and  then  comes  a 
collapse.  This  was  the  cause  for  this  “ strong 
girl’s  ” nervous  breakdown. 

No  girl  is  strong,  or  ever  will  be  as  a woman, 
whose  body  and  muscles  have  been  developed 
at  the  expense  of  her  nervous  system.  The 


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really  strong  girl  is  one  who  has  power  saved 
up,  and  when  a time  of  great  stress  or  work 
comes,  has  this  extra  power  to  put  out  and  not 
become  a nervous  bankrupt. 

Exercise,  like  your  daily  work,  should  always 
be  a pleasure  instead  of  boresome  labor.  Only 
by  doing  things  in  this  state  of  mind  can  you 
ever  be  successful. 

The  drilling,  training  and  developing  of  the 
will — powers  of  self-control — ^must  be  a con- 
stant part  of  a girl’s  self-education.  It  is  all 
very  well  to  tell  a girl  to  “ use  will  power,” 
but  before  she  is  blamed  for  the  lack  of  control, 
it  would  be  only  just  to  her  to  find  out  just 
how  much  of  this  power  she  has  to  use. 

Will  power  depends  upon  a perfect  nervous 
system.  The  reason  one  cannot  call  to  a will 
power  to  stop  an  evil  or  disagreeable  habit,  is 
because  the  habit  has  temporarily  destroyed, 
or  rather  put  to  sleep,  the  power  to  will.  If 
there  has  not  been,  in  the  beginning,  a well- 
drilled  self-control — or  will  power — how  can 
you  expect  a girl  who  flies  off  into  an  un- 
reasonable temper,  to  immediately  control  this 
temper  and  keep  it  under  control? 

The  will  power  is  the  rudder  of  life;  the 
steering  control  over  our  human  ship  as  it 
voyages  on  the  seas  of  life.  Now  if  a ship 
should  go  to  sea  without  a rudder,  you  know 
just  what  would  happen  to  it.  If  it  goes  on  a 


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CONFIDENTIAL'  CHATS 


voyage  with  a weak  rudder,  or  one  which  has 
been  damaged  and  not  repaired,  the  best  sailor 
in  the  world  cannot  keep  it  off  the  rocks  when 
a storm  comes. 

It  is  just  so  with  our  brains  and  bodies; 
they  must  be  controlled  by  a strong  and  well- 
attached  rudder,  the  will  power.  With  such 
a power  one  can  accomplish  wonders;  in  fact, 
everything  that  seems  marvelous  to  us  in  man’s 
work  has  been  due  to  perfect  steering  of  right 
impulses  into  new  harbors  where  an  unsteady 
human  ship  would  be  wrecked  in  trying  to  pass 
the  hidden  rocks  and  roaring  reefs. 


CHAPTER  VI 


HOW  TO  GET  WILL  POWER 

But  just  what  must  one  do  to  get  this 
power? 

I have  told  you  something  about  the  body’s 
poisons,  how  they  accumulate  in  the  body  and 
cause  iUness  and  nervousness.  The  first  thing 
to  do  is  to  see  that  your  body  is  free  and  kept 
free  from  these  poisons,  for  if  not  kept  free, 
the  nerve  cells  become  affected  and  then  a 
perfect  will  power  cannot  be  developed. 

Here  are  a few  practical  things  to  do  and 
not  to  do  to  keep  the  nerve  cells  so  you  can 
develop  them.  Sleep  always  alone.  Sleeping 
with  another  person  is  unsanitary.  The  skin 
needs  to  get  rid  of  its  natural  poisons  and  not 
take  up  any  from  another  person.  You  would 
not  think  of  breathing  the  air  coming  from 
another  person’s  lungs.  Well,  when  you  are 
under  the  sheets  and  blankets  with  another 
person,  you  can  breathe  through  your  skin  the 
poisons  coming  from  this  companion.  If  you 
have  to  sleep  in  a room  with  another  person, 
you  must  have  your  own  little  bed.  Sleep  with 
as  little  covering  over  you  as  is  possible  with 

89 


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CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


comfort;  window,  of  course,  as  I have  warned 
you,  wide  open  at  the  top.  You  can  become 
accustomed  to  lighter  clothing  by  gradual 
methods  of  reducing  the  number  of  blankets. 

No  underclothing  of  a material  to  absorb 
and  retain  perspiration  should  ever  be  worn. 
If  you  keep  over  your  skin  any  clothing  which 
has  become  moist  through  perspiration  it  will 
injure  your  chances  of  keeping  a good  nervous 
force.  Take  off  such  clothing  before  it  becomes 
soggy  and  cold.  Then  take  a sponge  bath  and 
put  on  dry  clothing. 

Personally,  I believe  that  porous  linen  under- 
wear is  the  best  for  all  growing  girls — ^yes,  and 
for  all  women.  It  allows  a free  evaporation  of 
perspiration,  and  so  prevents  a more  or  less 
sodden  garment  from  remaining  in  contact 
with  the  skin,  which  so  frequently  happens  with 
those  who  wear  woolen  underclothing.  There 
is  another  harmful  effect  that  woolen  under- 
clothing is  apt  to  have;  the  beginning  of  a 
rheumatic  condition  which  later  on  in  life  be- 
comes a painful  chronic  rheumatism. 

In  girls  who  find  that  in  winter  linen  under- 
wear is  too  cold,  a thin  silk  vest  may  be  worn 
over  the  linen.  This  will  be  found  to  consti- 
tute a thoroughly  warm,  comfortable  and  safe 
form  of  underwear. 

Don’t  try  to  keep  awake  either  by  mental 
effort  or  that  injurious  resort  of  drinking  coffee. 


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Sleepiness  should  not  be  overcome  as  a rule,  as 
it  is  Nature’s  signal  to  stop  work.  In  fact. 
Nature  has  signals  for  almost  all  dangers,  and 
when  we  can  read  these  signals  all  goes  well 
along  the  road  of  life. 

If  efforts  are  continued  in  spite  of  the 
fatigue,  the  quality  of  the  work  is  poor  and 
the  exhaustion  to  your  nervous  system  will  be 
difficult  to  repair.  High-school  girls  and 
college  young  women  constantly  make  this 
error  and  then  wonder  why  they  become  so 
nervous  at  times.  All  sorts  of  things  are  tried 
to  keep  awake  in  order  to  study  or  dance,  when 
if  they  would  go  to  bed  and  rest,  they  could 
accomplish  far  more  in  half  the  time  in  the 
morning  with  little  or  no  fatigue.  For  remem- 
ber, I am  trying  to  tell  you  how  to  get  a grip 
upon  that  will  power. 

Yet  there  are  times  when  sleepiness  and 
fatigue  must  be  overcome  without  resort  to 
stimulants  which  will  surely  weaken  any  will 
power  you  may  have  been  cultivating.  These 
times  are  when  you  have  to  watch  by  the  bed- 
side of  an  ill  mother  or  someone  dear  to  you. 
When  so  situated,  go  to  an  open  window  and 
take  deep  breathing  exercises.  This  will  burn 
up  the  fatigue  poisons  in  your  body,  for  remem- 
ber these  poisons  are  gathering  in  everyone’s 
body  when  real  fatigue  commences. 

Morning  is  the  time  for  all  mental  work  if 


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CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


you  are  a high-school  girl  or  college  woman. 
The  afternoon  should  be  devoted  to  some  form 
of  mild  exercise  and  for  “ low  pressure  ” work. 

Shouting,  yelling  and  all  extra  efforts  of  the 
throat  muscles  will  aid  in  exhausting  your 
nervous  powers,  to  say  nothing  about  the  un- 
pleasant and  unladylike  attitude  it  places  you  in 
before  the  public.  A low,  sweet  voice,  even 
under  excitement,  is  a sound  pleasing  to  all 
men  and  a certain  mark  of  good  birth. 

I need  not  repeat  the  facts  about  the  adver- 
tised “ remedies  ” for  this  trouble  or  that  pain, 
for  I have  already  warned  you  to  let  all  drugs 
and  “ cures  ” alone  as  you  would  snakes.  But 
there  are  some  drinks  that  you  should  be  warned 
against.  Never  take  those  soda  water  fountain’s 
stuff  advertised  as  “ nerve  tonics.”  Don’t  be- 
lieve the  young  man  or  boy  at  the  fountain 
when  he  says  that  “ Dopie  ” or  “ Bromo  Tonic,” 
“ Phosphate  for  your  Nerves,”  or  “ Dockine  ” 
and  other  similar  rotten  stuff  will  do  you  good 
and  that  they  contain  no  drugs  or  injurious  ma- 
terials. Don’t  believe  a word  of  all  these  mis- 
leading statements.  The  boy  or  young  man  is 
there  to  sell,  not  to  understand  or  care  about 
your  condition. 

If  such  stomach  wash  and  nerve  destroyers 
contain  no  drugs,  then  what  good  are  they? 
If  they  contain  nothing  but  plain  water  charged 
with  carbonic  acid  gas,  then  why  not  take  a 


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93 


glass  of  plain  seltzer  or  soda  water?  Supposing, 
for  example,  these  advertised  drinks  do  not  con- 
tain harmful  drugs — most  of  them  do,  however 
— they  are  colored  and  sweetened.  What  are 
they  colored  with?  What  is  the  chemical  that 
sweetens  them?  If  you  really  knew  you  would 
be  unable  to  keep  them  down,  the  knowledge 
of  how  they  are  concocted  would  be  revolting 
to  you. 

These  restrictions  do  not  apply  to  pure  soda 
water  and  pure  syrups,  but  even  here  you 
must  be  careful  to  drink  only  those  which  are 
pure,  and  only  the  very  best  drug  stores  are 
safe  in  this  matter. 

Most  of  the  bottled  drinks  sold  at  five  cents 
should  be  thrown  into  the  sewers,  and  how  many 
diseased  lips  do  you  think  have  touched  the 
glasses  passed  around  at  the  circus  and  similar 
shows?  Those  glasses  containing  dyed  water, 
a little  chemical  acid  and  glucose,  with  second- 
hand lemon  peel  to  give  the  appearance  of 
lemonade,  are  almost  as  dangerous  as  the  fangs 
of  a viper. 

Don’t  dress  in  a loud  and  gaudy  manner 
unless  you  wish  to  attract  the  men  of  loud  and 
loose  principles.  The  personal  appearance  of 
a girl  makes  a great  difference  in  the  manner 
she  will  be  received.  To  dress  in  good  taste 
and  with  every  appearance  of  neatness  and 
modesty,  is  essential  for  the  girl  who  seeks 


94 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


employment  or  respectful  attentions.  Good 
taste  in  dressing  simply  means  that  a man  can 
say  that  the  girl  was  well  dressed,  but  to 
save  his  life  he  could  not  tell  just  what  she 
had  on  for  clothes  or  hat.  The  dressing  of  the 
feet  is,  perhaps,  the  first  thing  a refined  and 
cultivated  man  looks  at.  To  be  well  and  sensi- 
bly shod  is  always  a hall  mark  of  good  birth 
and  cultivation.  The  girl  who  wears  thin  shoes 
on  a wet  and  cold  day,  the  young  woman 
who  displays  high-heeled  shoes  and  thin  silk 
stockings  on  a winter’s  day,  may  attract  atten- 
tion, but  not  respect.  A man  well  knows  that 
if  a girl  wears  a fur  coat  and  low  shoes  on 
the  street,  she  will,  as  a wife,  be  continually 
complaining  of  her  indisposition,  pains  and  al- 
together make  his  home  a place  to  flee. 

No  man  wants  a nervous  and  complaining 
woman  around  his  house,  and  a girl  who  thinks 
she  is  attractive  on  the  street  is  not  the  girl 
who  will  be  attractive  in  a home.  That  is,  one 
w^ho  dresses  her  feet  for  the  street  in  the 
manner  they  should  be  dressed  for  the  house  or 
ballroom  proclaims  herself  a careless  girl  and 
one  who  is  not  liable  to  take  care  of  her  health. 

You  have  heard  much  about  psychotherapy, 
suggestion  and  a lot  about  certain  Movements 
in  church  circles.  These  all  proclaim  an  in- 
fallible remedy  for  “ Nerves.”  There  is  a lot 
of  nonsense  written  about  this  mental  method 


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95 


of  healing  the  nervous  and  soul-sick  person, 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  there  has  been  a lot 
of  scoffing  at  it.  There  is  more  in  the  drilling 
of  our  inner  selves  than  the  old-time  physician 
has  been  willing  to  admit;  he  has  so  long  been 
accustomed  to  consider  woman  a physical  being 
of  bones,  flesh  and  whims,  that  her  real  inner 
self  has  been  sadly  neglected.  The  consequence 
has  been  that  a number  of  well-meaning  and 
progressive  men  have  taken  up  the  treatment 
of  troubles  without  understanding  just  what 
relation  the  gross  bodily  organs  and  nerve  cells 
bear  to  this  inner  self  which  we  all  possess. 
I shall  not  bother  you  with  any  digression,  but 
get  at  once  to  what  you  can  do  for  yourselves 
in  this  matter. 

Start  early  to  get  inside  of  yourself;  to  get 
at  that  self  which  so  bothers  you  at  times; 
the  thing  which  makes  you  “ feel  out  of  sorts,” 
that  “ getting  mad  with  yourself ;”  the  feeling 
that  you  have  not  said  or  done  just  what  you 
would  like  to  have  said  or  done,  but  which 
some  uncontrollable  impulse,  at  the  moment, 
made  you  say  and  do.  This  is  the  inner  self, 
but  it  belongs  to  all  the  other  parts  of  your 
body;  is  really  the  best  part  of  you  and  will 
be  able  to  put  out  the  best  in  you  when  you 
have  it  under  full  control. 

Take  a half  hour  at  the  time  when  you  can 
be  alone  and  see  into  yourself.  Search  well 


96 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


your  heart  and  learn  just  what  you  said  or  did 
that  you  regret.  Then  find  out  what  caused 
you  to  he  disagreeable,  what  has  put  you  out 
with  your  better  self.  Write  these  thoughts  and 
desires  down  where  you  can  privately  refer  to 
them  daily.  Take  the  first  mistake  and  stick 
to  the  memory  of  it  so  that,  when  the  impulse 
comes  to  repeat  it,  you  can  check  yourself. 
Drilling  yourself  this  way,  you  will  soon  learn 
to  conquer  this  one  fault.  Then  start  in  the 
same  way  at  another  fault  and  conquer  that. 
Don’t  try  to  exercise  all  the  powers  of  resistance 
at  once,  for  if  you  do,  there  are  bound  to  be 
failures  and  too  many  of  these  make  for  dis- 
couragement, and  then  follows  recklessness. 
You  would  not  try  to  develop  a weak  back  by 
going  from  an  apparatus  meant  to  develop  the 
thighs  to  another  one  for  the  chest,  and  then 
back  again  for  a few  moments  to  that  for 
strengthening  the  back  muscles.  No,  you  stick 
to  the  work  which  develops  the  back  until  you 
have  made  some  decided  progress.  The  inner 
self,  the  will,  the  good  girl  in  you,  should  be 
developed  in  the  same  way. 

You  want  to  go  to  a dance  or  perhaps  the 
theater,  “ all  the  other  girls  are  going,”  but 
your  mother  has  good  and  sufiicient  reasons  for 
not  allowing  you  to  go.  Now,  instead  of  argu- 
ing, complaining  and  going  off  to  your  room  in 
a huff,  saying  unkind  words  to  your  good 


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97 


mother,  words  which  tear  and  gnaw  at  her 
heart,  speak  to  that  inner  self;  call  it  out; 
go  to  your  room  and  peer  straight  into  the 
trouble  with  YOU,  not  that  wrong  idea  that 
the  fault  is  with  your  mother. 

Think  deeply  of  this  fact;  she  is  your  mother, 
nothing  that  would  add  to  your  pleasure  or 
advantage  would  she  deprive  you  of — not  for 
an  instant.  But  as  your  mother  she  knows 
what  is  best  for  you;  she  may  know  something 
about  the  other  girls,  about  the  kind  of  youths 
going  with  them,  she  may  know  something  about 
your  health  that  is  not  advisable  to  tell  you 
just  at  the  moment.  In  your  room  think  all 
these  matters  over;  throw  out  that  unreason- 
able and  false  self,  and  when  you  have  done  so, 
go  to  your  mother,  ask  her  forgiveness  and 
also  beg  her  to  tell  you  her  reasons. 

Now  that  your  inner  self  is  in  control,  your 
mother  will  tell  you  confidentially  her  reasons, 
and  when  they  are  clear  to  you,  the  happiness 
which  follows  is  far  beyond  any  mere  physical 
pleasure  you  can  ever  obtain.  After  a few 
times  of  this  self-drilling,  the  obedience  to  your 
mother  will  be  a second  nature. 

Still  more  fights  with  your  inner  self  will 
have  to  follow,  but  one  by  one,  you  can  conquer 
the  enemy.  Never  become  discouraged  if  you 
fail,  just  keep  on  trying  and  in  the  end  you 
will  win  over  all  evil  and  wrong  impulses. 


98 


CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


A girl  who  disobeys  her  mother  or  father 
is  the  girl  who  as  a wife  will  be  divorced. 

The  girl  who  wants  to  “ be  a good  Indian  ” 
will,  when  a woman,  be  a repulsive  savage. 

The  girl  who  deceives  her  mother  will  deceive 
her  husband. 

All  men  know  this  fact. 

Remember  that  marriage  does  not  make  a 
happy  woman,  but  a woman  has  it  in  her  power 
to  make  marriage  a happiness. 

The  most  reasonable  woman  will  have  hours 
of  being  unreasonable,  but  these  are  the  hours 
you  should  be  unreasonable  with  yourself  while 
searching  for  reasons. 


/ 


CHAPTER  VII 


HOW  TO  KEEP  ATTRACTIVE 

The  jolly,  vivacious  girl;  the  girl  who  is 
happy  obeying  her  mother,  contented  in  school 
or  laughs  while  at  work,  is  really  a girl  in 
whom  every  organ  and  function  are  properly 
adjusted.  In  other  words,  a girl  who  is  in 
perfect  health  is  a joy  to  herself  and  makes 
life  worth  living  for  others.  It  is  the  same 
idea  that  I have  given  you  regarding  a per- 
fectly-running machine — every  part  works  har- 
moniously and  there  is  no  complaining,  no 
feeling  of  harshness  in  life,  no  grinding  or 
jolting  as  you  go  along. 

And  almost  every  girl  who  starts  right  can 
be  put  in  this  desired  state  and  keep  herself 
so.  But  she  must  understand  that  it  is  in  her 
own  poW(fer  to  have  red  cheeks,  happy  thoughts, 
vivacity,  pleasure  in  what  she  does,  and  to 
bring  sunshine  around  her. 

Doctors  cannot  do  this  for  her;  patent  medi- 
cines, “ blood  purifiers,”  “ eye  drops,”  tonics 
and  complexion  foods;  all  and  everything  of 
the  kind  will  injure  her  and  prevent  any 
chance  of  obtaining  and  keeping  perfect  health. 

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100  CONFIDENTIAi:  CHATS 


I purposely  repeat  this  statement,  for  we  are 
now  going  to  chat  in  detail  about  many  of  those 
little  things  you  can  do  for  yourself  better  than 
any  doctor — even  the  most  experienced.  Of 
course  you  cannot  do  all  this  until  you  under- 
stand the  causes  for  those  many  little  annoy- 
ances which  come  to  every  growing  girl. 

Your  complexion,  your  spirits,  your  physical 
form,  all  depend  upon  what  the  body  takes  in 
and  what  it  casts  off.  This  cannot  too  often 
be  repeated  to  you,  because  the  simple  facts  are 
so  easily  understood  when  clearly  explained 
and  are  under  the  control  of  every  girl. 

It  does  make  all  the  difference  between  a 
vivacious  and  attractive  girl  and  one  who  is 
constantly  complaining,  who  knows  that  her 
eyes  and  complexion  are  dull ; how  life  ap- 
pears to  each;  all  the  difference  between  happi- 
ness and  misery.  And  this  difference  arises 
from  the  methods  of  eating,  thinking,  and  get- 
ting rid  of  the  body’s  poisons.  One  girl  does 
not  know  that  all  the  cells  in  her  body  are  con- 
stantly undergoing  decay  and  new  ones  taking 
their  places  and  so  neglects  to  give  her  body 
such  food,  rest  and  exercise  as  will  keep  the 
body’s  outgo  and  input  evenly  balanced.  The 
other  girl  with  red  cheeks  and  laughing  mouth, 
has  this  evenly  balanced  condition  during  the 
body’s  constant  changes. 

Too  many  of  you  have  been  taught  to 


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101 


neglect  the  proper  feeding  process  of  the  body; 
you  have  been  allowed  to  eat  proper  food  at 
improper  times  and  not  been  shown  the  neces- 
sity of  doing  just  the  opposite.  But  few  of 
you  have  ever  considered  the  true  relation  of 
food  to  health  and  happiness;  the  fruit  market 
has  been  neglected,  the  butcher  disinterestedly 
visited  and  the  greengrocer  never  considered 
as  an  aid  to  perfect  health.  What  have  taken 
their  places?  Patent  medicines,  all  sorts  of 
poisonous  “ tonics,”  drugs,  fake  foods  and 
hundreds  of  dangerous  concoctions  to  replace 
the  want  of  real  nourishment. 

Instead  of  nourishing  the  body  and  of  course 
the  nerves,  these  fake  foods  directly  injure 
every  cell  in  the  body.  They  cannot  keep  up 
the  repair  daily  needed  in  every  tissue  of  the 
human  system.  Do  not  forget  that  every  day 
your  body  undergoes  more  or  less  wear.  In  the 
growing  girl  it  is  unstable,  sometimes  through 
much  worry  or  fear  the  wear  is  greater  than 
the  ability  to  repair,  and  unless  the  girl  realizes 
this  and  at  once  commences  to  give  extra  aid 
to  the  repairing  process  by  eating  proper  food 
and  plenty  of  it,  resting  from  all  physical  and 
mental  excitement,  she  will  reach  full  woman- 
hood with  some  little  nerve  or  tissue  lacking 
its  full  strength;  and  she  can  never  repair  the 
damage. 

Each  day,  too,  by  radiation,  her  body  loses 


102  CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


a large  amount  of  heat,  and  for  the  perfect 
health  of  man  or  woman  the  temperature  of 
the  body  must  be  maintained.  Now  this  loss 
of  heat  has  to  be  replaced  constantly.  It  is 
only  done  through  the  regular  supply  of  fuel. 
This  fuel  is  the  food  we  eat.  It  must  be  of 
such  a nature  as  to  burn  up  in  the  body  and 
give  out  its  heat.  This  fuel — food — has  to  be 
supplied  according  to  the  amount  of  work  the 
body  and  brains  do  every  day — yes,  every  hour. 
If  you  have  to  keep  the  furnace  going  to 
warm  your  rooms,  you  well  know  that  it  must 
have  good  coal  about  so  often;  according  to 
the  amount  of  work  it  is  compelled  to  do. 
You  also  know  that  putting  clinkers,  shavings 
or  newspapers  into  the  furnace  will  not  give 
your  rooms  the  needed  heat.  Well,  it  is  just  so 
with  your  body. 

Also,  if  you  allow  the  clinkers  from  good 
coal  to  remain  in  the  bottom  of  the  furnace, 
soon  there  comes  a time  when  no  amount  of 
coal  will  give  out  the  full  strength  of  its  heat, 
and  finally  the  fire  goes  out.  Again,  it  is 
just  the  same  thing  that  happens  if  you  keep 
the  clinkers  of  your  fuel  in  your  body;  the 
waste  products  left  over  after  the  food  has 
given  out  its  heat.  You  know  how  these  waste 
products  are  eliminated  from  your  body — 
through  the  bowels,  skin,  kidneys,  lungs  and 
liver. 


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103 


Now,  please  remember  this  most  important 
fact — Food,  including  water,  is  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  supplying  heat  to  the  body  and 
to  replace  the  dead  cells  which  are  constantly 
being  cast  off  in  every  portion  of  your  body. 
This  decay  and  birth  of  the  cells  of  the  body 
goes  on  in  every  living  thing.  When  the 
decay  is  greater  than  the  repair,  some  part 
of  your  body  is  dying.  In  such  a condition, 
you  are  a fit  subject  for  the  attack  of  some  of 
the  many  disease  germs  all  around  us.  It  may 
be  a serious  one  or  merely  some  form  of  skin 
disease;  then  goes,  whack!  your  good  com- 
plexion. 

A girl  needs  more  food  and  at  more  frequent 
intervals  than  a grown  woman  because,  besides 
keeping  up  the  heat  of  the  body  she  also  has  to 
supply  the  material  for  the  growing  process 
active  in  her.  The  building  up  of  the  frame, 
the  full  strength  of  the  nerves,  the  hard  work- 
ing blood,  must  all  be  supplied  by  a surplus  of 
food,  for  if  she  eats  only  enough  to  supply 
heat,  the  other  needs  of  her  body  will  suffer 
and  finally  become  useless. 

Now,  girls,  eat  plenty  of  food  that  will  aid 
in  all  your  growth.  I know  some  girls  who 
think  it  is  unladylike  to  have  a good  appetite; 
I have  treated  girls  who  were  really  starving 
themselves  because  they  dreaded  to  become 
fat,  and  I have  seen  others  whose  appetite  was 


104  CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


unnatural  because  they  denied  themselves 
proper  food.  It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to 
say  any  more  about  the  kind  of  foods  to  eat; 
we  have  already  gone  into  this  matter,  but  re- 
member this,  that  the  degree  of  energy  essen- 
tially depends  on  the  nutritiveness  of  the  food 
you  do  eat. 

Not  a single  gland  in  the  body  can  do  its 
proper  work  unless  it  is  supplied  with  its 
proper  stimulant;  and  this  stimulant  is  food. 
If  you  wish  to  have  a soft,  smooth  and  at- 
tractive skin,  you  must  always  keep  in  your 
mind  the  fact  that  it  is  the  glands  of  the  skin 
that  exist  for  this  very  purpose.  I have  said 
something  to  you  about  perspiration  and  exer- 
cise, hut  beside  this  activity  of  the  glands,  pro- 
duced by  exercise,  there  is  constantly  an  “ in- 
sensible perspiration  ” taking  place  in  every 
girl. 

This  unnoticeable  perspiration  amounts  daily 
to  about  two  pints  of  watery  fluid.  Think 
of  it!  A quart  of  water  leaving  your  body 
through  the  skin  every  twenty-four  hours  and 
in  such  a way  that  you  do  not  notice  it.  You 
see  now  why  I have  laid  so  much  stress  upon 
the  statement  that  you  should  drink  plenty 
of  water,  and  why  the  average  American  girl 
suffers  from  poor  complexion  and  constipa- 
tion. 

Fat  is  poured  out  in  this  “ insensible  per- 


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105 


spiration.”  Even  the  finger  tips  will  secrete 
it.  If  the  palm  of  the  hand  is  cleansed  with 
soap  and  then  with  ether;  held  in  the  sunlight 
and  observed  with  a magnifying  glass,  you 
can  see  little  bubbles  arising  which  immediately 
evaporate,  leaving  tiny  drops  of  an  oily  sub- 
stance— fat. 

If  this  is  so — and  it  is  a scientific  fact — ^is 
not  the  statement  I made  to  you,  that  water 
will  help  reduce  fat  instead  of  making  it, 
easily  understood?  But,  then,  why  will  drink- 
ing water  also  make  fat?  Because  it  simply 
balances  the  physiological  functions,  brings 
about  a proper  chemical  action  throughout  the 
whole  body  and  in  doing  this  enables  the  tis- 
sues to  extract  from  your  food  the  elements 
which  go  to  make  up  fat,  flesh  and  blood. 

In  other  words,  give  the  body  its  needed 
supply  of  water,  air,  food  and  exercise,  and  it 
will  take  care  of  itself — give  you  the  amount 
of  fat  you  really  need  or  take  off  the  fat  you 
do  not  need. 

All  these  matters  of  controlling  the  action 
of  the  skin  are  dependent  upon  special  nerves; 
nerves  which  have  nothing  to  do  but  look  after 
the  health  of  the  skin.  These  are  the  nerves 
which  close  or  open  the  pores  to  let  out  the 
“ insensible  perspiration,”  which  keep  the  body 
temperature  equal  under  all  conditions  of  ex- 
posure and  rest,  which  allow  the  blood  to  get 


106  CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


through  the  tiny  arteries  and  veins  of  the 
cheeks  and  make  for  a good  or  poor  com- 
plexion. 

Don’t  listen  to  those  who  tell  you  that  your 
unsatisfactory  complexion  is  due  to  “ bad 
blood.”  There  is  really  no  such  state  in  the 
good  girl  or  woman  as  “ bad  blood.”  Affec- 
tions of  the  skin  such  as  a muddy  complexion^ 
greasy  looking  skin,  rough  skin,  pimples  and 
blotches  are  not  signs  that  there  is  something 
the  matter  with  your  blood.  Generally  speak- 
ing these  are  signs  of  some  faulty  adjustment 
between  nerves  and  blood  vessels,  sweat  glands 
and  the  tiny  muscles  of  the  skin. 

These  muscles  of  the  skin  are  very  delicate 
and  sensitive  muscles  and  easily  prevented  from 
working  properly.  When  they  do  not  do  their 
work  constantly  and  correctly,  what  happens? 
Wrinkles  of  course,  then  a tightening  of  the 
skin  which  prevents  the  outpour  of  the  “ in- 
sensible perspiration  ” and  the  escape  of  the 
oily  substance.  This  latter,  remaining,  causes 
the  greasy  skin;  the  tiny  wrinkles  keep  behind 
the  outer  skin  some  of  the  inward  dirt,  and 
then  you  have  the  muddy  complexion. 

Another  way  you  can  see  the  action  of  these 
tiny  skin  muscles  is  in  “ gooseflesh.”  “ Goose- 
flesh  ” is  due  to  the  general  contraction  of  these 
tiny  skin  muscles.  They  contract  into  the 
little  pin-head  knobs  which  make  the  peculiar 


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107 


appearance  we  call  “ gooseflesh.”  The  con- 
tracting or  expanding  of  these  skin  muscles  is 
absolutely  necessary  for  good  health,  as  the 
action  regulates  secretion  and  excretion  and 
also  protects  the  body  from  sudden  temperature 
changes.  When  you  jump  into  bed  and  find 
the  sheets  cold,  you  immediately  have  “ goose- 
flesh  ” ; that  is,  the  skin  muscles  close  at  once 
all  the  pores.  If  they  did  not  do  this,  the 
contact  with  the  cold  sheets  would  reduce 
your  body  temperature  and  disturb  the  even 
working  of  the  organs  of  the  body.  The  reason 
fear  and  shock  also  bring  on  “ gooseflesh  ” is 
due  to  the  nerves  of  the  skin  being  affected 
by  the  fright  you  have  had,  and  so  the  muscles 
become  uncontrollable.  This  causes  the  skin 
muscles  to  contract  and  its  bunches  are  the 
“ gooseflesh  ” skin.  Very  often  a fright  or 
emotion  is  the  cause  for  a bad  complexion,  for 
as  you  can  readily  understand,  all  the  functions 
of  the  skin  being  disturbed,  it  cannot  remain 
healthy. 

It  is  for  this  reason  you  should  avoid  all 
thoughts,  reading  or  association  which  will 
affect  the  nervous  system,  if  you  wish  to  have  a 
clear  and  beautiful  complexion. 

Proper  clothing  has,  of  course,  a great  deal 
to  do  with  preventing  a disturbance  of  the 
nerves  of  the  skin  and  through  these  nerves 
the  muscles  of  the  skin.  I have  warned  you 


108  CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


about  keeping  next  to  your  skin  any  garment 
soggy  with  human  excretions  or  secretions — 
jjerspiration  with  its  fats  and  acids — and  ex- 
plained why  a daily  bath  is  the  only  way  to 
be  certain  of  a healthy  and  hence  a beautiful 
skin.  The  changing  of  underwear  by  a set 
rule — such  as  once  or  twice  a week,  is  bar- 
barous. Undergarments  should  be  changed  as 
often  as  they  have  absorbed  any  unusual 
amount  of  perspiration.  Always  change  after 
exercise,  and  in  the  warm  weather  every  day. 
It  is  not  absolutely  necessary  that  clothing 
worn  during  a morning’s  walk  should  be  sent 
to  the  laundry,  but  it  should  be  hung  where 
it  can  dry,  then  put  where  the  fresh  air  will 
go  through  its  meshes.  This  being  thoroughly 
done  it  may  be  used  during  the  next  form  of 
exercise.  But  if  it  has  been  soaked  with  per- 
spiration, then  it  should  be  thoroughly  washed 
and  dried  in  the  air. 

Carelessness  in  these  matters  is  often  the 
cause  of  skin  diseases;  especially  of  that  dis- 
tressing affection,  eczema. 

Woolen  undergarments  are  a prolific  source 
of  mischief  in  most  of  these  cases.  In  fact, 
as  I have  suggested  to  you,  woolen  underwear 
is  not  the  thing  for  a girl  or  young  woman  to 
wear  if  she  wishes  a clear  and  attractive  com- 
plexion. 

Even  in  cold  weather  you  can  wear  silk. 


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109 


muslin,  or  linen  undergarments  next  the  skin. 
Be  certain  to  have  them  white,  or  at  least 
undyed,  and  have  no  colored  ribbons  where 
they  can  come  in  contact  with  the  skin. . Out- 
side of  these  garments  you  may  wear  woolen 
articles  required  for  warmth.  Another  little 
matter  of  importance  to  the  growing  girl — fur, 
velvet  or  cloth  collars  of  garments  worn  tightly 
about  the  neck,  the  lining  of  gloves,  dyed 
stockings  and  even  the  lining  of  your  hats, 
sometimes  will  start  a skin  trouble  which  will 
be  difficult  to  cure. 

Your  sleeping  garments  should  be  as  loose 
as  possible — especially  around  the  neck.  They 
should  be  such  that  you  can  turn  IN  them  and 
not  have  them  stick  to  your  body  when  turning. 

Turning  while  in  bed  is  one  of  Nature’s  ways 
of  giving  all  the  skin  covering  your  body  a 
chance  to  get  air  and  allow  of  the  evaporation 
of  that  “ insensible  perspiration.”  Now,  if  a 
certain  part  of  your  body  has  gotten  rid  of  its 
inside  poison — the  region  over  the  liver,  for 
example — and  in  turning  over  to  give  that 
portion  access  to  air,  your  garment  simply 
sticks  and  goes  with  it,  don’t  you  see  that  you 
are  sleeping  with  a soggy  bit  of  clothing  pasted 
right  over  the  region  which  needs  fresh  air 
and  a chance  to  evaporate  its  perspiration? 

During  warm  weather  you  will  find  bran 
baths  not  only  very  soothing,  but  giving  to  the 


110  CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


skin  a very  smooth  and  pleasing  appearance. 
About  four  pounds  of  bran  to  a bathtub  of 
water  is  what  you  need. 

There  is  an  annoying  skin  affection,  though 
not  a disease,  which  may  embarrass  the  most 
careful  girl.  H is  a summer  occurrence  and  I 
dare  say  that  most  of  you  know  something 
about  it.  I refer  to  “ prickly  heat,”  a most 
annoying  thing  to  the  girl  who  wishes  to  enjoy 
her  summer  outing  and  has  to  keep  away  from 
the  bathing  beach  and  the  pleasures  of  all  her 
friends.  This  trouble  may  come  out  suddenly 
all  over  the  body,  sometimes  it  is  confined  to 
certain  large  areas,  more  often  to  the  arms  and 
shoulders.  It  is  accompanied  by  excessive 
sweating  and  intolerable  itching,  prickling 
and  tingling. 

You  all  can  avoid  this  distressing  condition. 
Light  clothes,  linen  undergarments  of  the 
flimsiest  material,  the  use  of  plenty  of  water 
taken  inwardly,  the  avoidance  of  hot  rooms,  no 
exercise,  such  as  dancing  or  tennis,  are  the 
things  to  remember. 

Do  not  put  anything  on  the  skin  such  as 
powder,  ointment  or  ammonia.  Bathe  in  cool 
water;  put  into  your  bath  a handful  of  bicar- 
bonate of  soda.  Take  every  morning  a full 
glass  of  some  saline  water  or  a glass  of  water 
in  which  you  have  dissolved  a lithia  tablet.  Eat 
plenty  of  green  vegetables  and  fresh  fruit,  but 


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111 


avoid  spiced  food.  Rice,  chicken,  mutton,  will 
not  harm  you,  but  pork,  ham  and  underdone 
beef  at  this  time  should  be  let  alone.  At  night 
you  should  sponge  your  body  with  vinegar  and 
water. 

Whatever  affects  the  skin  affects  also  the 
hair  and  nails,  for  those  are  only  extensions  of 
the  skin.  I have  told  you  about  the  hair  in  a 
former  chat  which  leaves  little  more  to  say; 
for  after  you  understand  the  secret  of  beauty — 
good  health — common-sense  will  dictate  to  you 
what  to  do.  However,  here  are  a few  more 
things  about  the  care  of  the  hair. 

In  trying  to  get  rid  of  some  of  the  dirt  which 
the  hair  will  collect,  don’t  use  a fine  tooth 
comb.  This  cannot,  without  difficulty  and  in- 
jury, be  made  to  take  hold  of  the  dirt,  because 
when  it  does,  it  will  pull  so  severely  as  to  pull 
out  or  break  the  hairs.  This  is  especially  true 
of  the  thick  hair  of  the  brunette.  Use  a comb 
having  large  smooth  teeth.  Your  brush  should 
have  bristles  moderately  stiff  and  the  tufts  of 
these  bristles  should  be  well  set  apart.  Never 
use  a brush  whose  bristles  are  short  and  closely 
set.  Pearline  is  a good  washing  material  in 
which  to  soak  your  combs  and  brushes.  In 
drying  the  brush  be  certain  to  place  it  in  the 
sun,  bristles  down,  so  that  the  water  drains  off, 
instead  of  soaking  into  the  back  of  the  brush. 
If  this  latter  condition  is  allowed,  the  moist 


112  CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


roots  of  the  bristles  will  take  up  all  the  dirt 
and  germs  floating  around  and  they  will  then 
be  transferred  to  your  scalp. 

The  number  of  times  the  hair  should  be 
washed  depends  entirely  upon  the  amount  of 
dirt  or  dust  it  has  accumulated.  But  the  rule 
is,  as  I have  mentioned,  that  washing  the  hair 
should  be  done  only  when  there  is  an  accumu- 
lation of  dust,  for  the  more  it  is  let  alone  the 
better  hair  you  will  have.  In  washing  the  hair 
you  remove  the  protective  oil  and  this  leaves 
the  hair  dry  and  brittle.  All  applications  of 
oil  or  vaseline  to  the  hair  are  injurious;  man 
cannot  make  the  artificial  take  the  place  of  the 
natural.  If  you  must  use  any  oil,  then  use  pure 
olive  oil. 

Never  attempt  to  remove  superfluous  hair 
from  the  face  or  neck.  If  you  do  attempt  it 
yourself,  unsightly  pimples  will  follow,  perhaps 
ugly  sores  and  in  the  end  the  roots  will  be  left 
to  send  out  larger  and  darker  hairs.  If  troubled 
with  superfluous  hairs,  go  to  a reputable  physi- 
cian. He  can,  by  a method  of  using  an  electric 
needle,  rid  you  of  your  trouble.  Never  go  to 
an  advertising  man  or  woman  for  this  trouble 
or  any  other. 

Never  try  to  beat  Nature — ^you  cannot  do  it. 
Help  her  and  she  will  do  the  best  thing  for 
you.  I make  this  remark  because  I know  many 
girls  who  have  straight  hair  want  to  have  curljr 


WITH  GIRLS  113 

hair  and  try  all  kinds  of  methods  to  get 
curls. 

Curly  hair  is  due  to  the  angle  it  is  placed  in 
the  skin  of  the  scalp.  Straight  hair  simply 
means  that  the  hair  grows  straight  up  from  the 
scalp.  You  can  now  see  that  it  is  impossible 
to  get  a natural  curly  hair  from  straight 
roots.  If  you  persist  in  this  useless  process, 
you  are  bound  to  disturb  the  roots  and  ulti- 
mately find  that  your  hair  is  dropping  out. 

Then  there  is  another  fact  to  remember. 
The  face  and  skin  develop  along  their  own  lines 
and  in  harmony  with  each  other.  A face  and 
complexion  made  for  straight  hair  will  always 
look  somewhat  out  of  proportion  surrounded 
by  artificially  curled  hair.  This  gives  the  head 
and  face  that  “ frowsy  ” look  so  often  seen  in  the 
most  carefully  dressed  girl.  Such  a girl  thinks 
she  has  beaten  Nature.  But  it  is  the  other 
way  about. 

Don’t  use  a HAIR  nailbrush.  In  doing  so 
you  are  liable  to  tear  the  tender  skin  at  the 
base  of  the  nails  and  open  opportunities  for 
germs.  A rubber  nail  brush  is  the  very  best 
to  use.  Such  a brush  is  generally  called  a flesh 
brush.  It  is  a rubber  plate  with  many  cylin- 
drical projections  rising  from  one  of  its  flat 
surfaces.  These  little  rubber  projections  do 
better  work  than  the  bristles  of  a hairbrush 
and  get  in  under  the  nail  better  and  do  much 


114  CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


less  damage.  The  flesh  brush,  beside  cleaning 
the  nails  well,  and  with  little  damage  to  the 
surrounding  skin,  is  itself  easily  washed  and 
sterilized. 

The  finger  nails  ought  to  be  trimmed  so  that 
they  may  fulfill  their  function  of  supporting  and 
protecting  the  pulp  of  the  fingers.  They  there- 
fore ought  to  be  cut  in  a line  cori’esponding  to, 
but  slightly  behind,  the  round  of  the  finger 
tip.  They  should  not  be  cut  too  close  at  the 
corners.  The  manicure  method  of  cutting  the 
nails  close  at  the  corners  and  trimming  them 
too  close,  is  injurious  and  dangerous.  The 
finger  nails  can  pick  up  more  poisonous  germs 
than  any  other  portion  of  the  body,  and  unless 
they  are  protected  by  their  tough  surroundings 
they  will  carry  into  the  body  deadly  microbes. 
Never  use  a knife  or  nail  scissors  in  pushing 
back  the  skin  lying  at  the  base  of  the  nails. 
Gently  work  it  back  by  the  tip  of  your  fingers 
or  thumb. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


SOME  DONATS 

Don^t  think  because  you  hear  so  much  about 
the  dangerous  germs  to  be  found  everywhere, 
that  you  are  certain  to  catch  some  horrible 
disease.  True,  there  is  great  danger  in  igno- 
rantly living  around  these  germs,  but  the  dan- 
ger is  mostly  in  ignorance  and  not  in  the  fact 
that  the  disease  microbes  are  always  with  us. 

The  old  idea  that  such  germs  as  those  of 
scarlet  fever,  typhoid,  smallpox,  etc.,  could  be 
carried  from  the  ill  to  the  well  on  clothing, 
books,  toys  and  other  similar  articles  is  not 
strictly  true.  Equally  true  is  it  that  these  kinds 
of  germs  do  not  stay  long  upon  walls  of 
rooms,  floors  or  ceilings.  They  will  stay  and 
breed  diseases  in  such  places  if  they  are  allowed 
to  thrive  under  moist  and  dark  conditions. 

Sunlight  and  fresh  air  are  deadly  enemies 
to  all  germs  except  those  of  venereal  origin. 
If  a smallpox  patient  has  been  confined  to  a 
room  and  after  being  taken  away  the  room  is 
fumigated  and  then  closed,  the  chances  are  that 
the  smallpox  germs — some  of  them — ^will  re- 
main and  increase.  Hence,  to  again  occupy 

115 


116  confidential;  chats 


this  room  would  be  dangerous.  But  if,  instead 
of  fumigating  the  room,  if  all  the  windows 
were  open;  if  every  corner  and  floor  oould  re- 
ceive the  rays  of  the  sun  for  many  days;  the 
last  germ  in  the  room  would  have  to  give  up 
the  ghost. 

Don’t  think  that  fumigating  and  washing 
clothes  or  other  articles  which  have  come  in 
contact  with  a diseased  person  make  for  abso- 
lute safety.  But  do  remember  that  SUN- 
LIGHT and  fresh  air  are  deadly  enemies  to 
most  disease  germs. 

There  are  certain  diseases  which  are  carried 
around  by  persons  in  whom  you  would  never 
suspect  danger.  Typhoid  germs,  for  example, 
may  be  carried  around  in  the  intestines  of  a 
person  who  is  in  apparent  health.  Now  every- 
where this  person  lives,  or  uses  the  toilet,  the 
germs  are  deposited,  and  if  they  happen  to  get 
into  the  drinking  water — wells  or  streams — or 
are  carried  by  the  flies’  legs  to  the  food  or 
milk,  you  run  great  risks  of  getting  typhoid 
fever. 

Those  germs  of  two  horrible  diseases  which 
are  to  be  found  upon  public  toilet  articles, 
public  drinking  cups,  upon  the  leaves  of  com- 
mon books — ^in  fact  everywhere  man  or  woman 
is  to  be  found,  are  iiot  killed  by  sunlight  or 
fresh  air.  This  subject  should  be  thoroughly 
understood  by  every  young  woman,  but  it  is  of 


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117 


too  great  importance  to  be  dealt  with  here  in 
a few  paragraphs. 

The  breath  of  a consumptive  patient  will  not 
carry  directly  the  germs  of  consumption  to 
another  person.  Oh,  I know  that  is  what  many 
of  you  have  been  taught,  but  we  are  dealing 
with  the  facts  as  they  are  known  up  to  this 
very  year  of  1911.  It  has  long  been  the  general 
idea  that  disease  germs  w^ere  carried  from  one 
person  or  thing  to  another  person  or  thing. 
Now  this  is  not  strictly  true.  All  germs  in- 
crease and  thrive  in  moist  and  dark  conditions. 
The  throat  of  a consumptive  patient  is  one  of 
these  conditions.  The  germs  are  sent  out  into 
the  air  of  the  room  in  surrounding  moisture. 
They  land  somewhere ; on  the  tablecloth,  in 
the  carpet,  or  hide  in  a dark  corner.  In  these 
places  they  dry  and  become  dust — ^germ-laden 
dust.  Now  stir  up  this  dust  and  then  you  have 
the  germs  free  to  rush  into  the  healthy  lungs 
around  them,  and  then  a person  runs  great 
risk  of  contracting  consumption. 

Don’t  stir  up  a room  by  dusting  if  that  room 
has  been  occupied  by  a diseased  person.  Don’t 
wash  the  walls  or  floor  of  such  a room  and 
then  close  it,  unless  you  want  to  go  into  the 
business  of  breeding  germs. 

Knock  out  the  windows  of  such  a room — 
open  it  up  for  the  sun’s  rays  to  penetrate  and 
kill  off  the  enemy.  Take  all  carpets  out  and 


118  CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


put  them  where  nothing  but  DRY  air  and 
sunshine  can  get  at  them.  Do  the  same  thing 
with  every  n»ovable  object  in  the  room. 

Don’t  do  anything  but  just  this  with  rooms 
where  scarlet  fever,  diphtheria,  measles,  whoop- 
ing cough  and  other  contagious  diseases  have 
been  running  their  courses. 

I spoke  to  you  about  the  hands  being  the 
greatest  carriers  of  infection.  They  even  carry 
around  the  germs  of  typhoid  fever.  They  have 
been  found  on  the  cleanliest  person’s  hands 
after  using  public  toilets.  On  the  fingers, 
especially. 

You  are  safer  in  kissing  a person  who  has 
consumption,  than  you  are  in  whetting  your 
finger  to  turn  over  the  pages  of  a book  that 
has  been  thumbed  by  scores  of  other  persons. 
A person  may  have  the  cleanest  habits  possible 
yet  be  a menace  tp  others  as  well  as  to  her- 
self. 

I watched  the  other  day  a pair  of  young 
schoolgirls  trying  on  each  other’s  gloves.  Up 
to  the  lips  would  go  a finger  or  two,  then  these 
moist  fingers  would  clasp  the  glove  fingers  and 
in  this  way  work  the  glove  onto  the  hand. 
You  all  know  the  process  better  than  I can 
describe  it  to  you.  Now  supposing  that  the 
girl  who  owned  the  glove  had  rang  the  bell  or 
turned  the  knob  at  the  residence  of  a friend 
who  was  ill  with,  say,  consumption,  to  inquire 


WITH  GIRLS 


119 


how  the  friend  was.  Don’t  you  see  that  it  was 
more  than  probable  that  nurse,  maid  or  mother 
had  conveyed  moist  germs  of  the  disease  to  the 
knob  or  bell  push,  that  the  germs  dried  but  had 
not  been  long  enough  in  the  sun  to  be  killed, 
and  this  girl’s  glove  picked  these  germs  up  and 
then  you  transferred  them  to  your  lips?  Dried 
germs  which  only  wanted  the  moisture  of  your 
lips  to  become  virulently  active. 

Don’t  wet  your  fingers  in  trying  on  gloves 
— new  or  old. 

Don’t  hang  on  to  car  straps  with  ungloved 
hands.  The  same  don’t  applies  to  water  closet 
chains,  handles  and  many  other  germ  holders 
you  will  call  to  your  mind. 

In  studying  the  peculiar  habits  of  girls  I 
watched  a group  in  the  “ Ladies’  Hat  Rooms  ” 
at  a theater.  They  took  off  their  hats  after 
much  pulling  of  big  daggers — beg  pardon,  I 
mean  pins — out  of  hair  and  hats.  These  dag — 
pins,  were  all  promiscuously  laid  upon  a dress- 
ing table  covered  with  germ-laden  dust,  only 
to  be  taken  up  again  and  held  in  the  mouth. 
The  same  process  was  gone  through  with  when 
they  again  put  on  their  hats.  Pin  after  pin 
was  taken  from  the  germ  cloth  and  put  in  their 
mouths  while  they  adjusted  the  angle  of  their 
hats. 

“ Say,  Marne,  lend  me  a pin,  will  you?  I’ve 
lost  one.”  So  out  of  Marne’s  mouth  came  a 


120  CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


pin,  which  was  immediately  put  between  the 
lips  of  the  borrowing  girl. 

Nasty?  Of  course.  Dangerous?  Fright- 
fully so. 

Don’t  put  pencils,  pins,  string  and  other 
articles  of  the  kind  in  your  mouths.  Why 
does  a girl  think  her  mouth  is  a receptacle 
for  every  little  thing  she  wants  to  use  tem- 
porarily? 

I have  seen  girls  and  women  step  up  to  a 
box  office  and  as  soon  as  the  ticket  seller  had 
shoved,  with  his  bare  hands,  a ticket  or  two 
through  the  window,  immediately  grab  up  those 
dangerous  pieces  of  pasteboard  and  place  them 
between  their  lips  and  hold  them  there  until 
they  passed  down  the  line  and  into  the 
theater. 

And  probably,  shortly  after,  this  same  girl 
or  woman  will  wonder  why  she  has  pimples, 
blotches  or  sore  lips.  Then  she  goes  to  the 
druggist  for  a “ face  balm  ” which  temporarily 
hides  the  real  trouble.  Finally  she  has  to  go  to 
the  doctor,  who  finds  it  is  too  late  to  repair  all 
the  damage  done  through  ignorance,  foolish- 
ness and  the  drug. 

Don’t  use  arsenic  in  any  form  for  your  com- 
plexion or  to  give  your  face  a plump  appearance. 
Some  of  you  will  tell  me  of  a girl  you  know 
who  has  a nice  plump  face  from  the  use  of 
arsenic  wafers.  “ She  used  ‘to  be  a fright  ’ ; 


WITH  GIRLS 


121 


skinny  in  the  face  and  deep  lines.”  Certainly, 
and  now  she  looks  to  be  in  good  health. 

But  she  is  not;  she  is  in  a dangerous  state, 
and  if  she  keeps  up  the  arsenic  poisoning  she 
will  discover  this  fact. 

In  the  girl,  arsenic  will  produce  a certain 
amount  of  fat — unnatural  of  course — ^in  hollows 
or  pits  which  full  growth  will  attend  to  if  the 
girl  will  have  patience.  Poisoning  herself  with 
arsenic  makes  fat  in  the  undeveloped  tissues 
of  the  face.  This  gives  her  a plump  appear- 
ance. So  will  plenty  of  whisky,  and  in  about 
the  same  manner.  But  if  the  fatness  was 
confined  only  to  the  cheeks  the  harm  would 
not  be  so  great,  but  like  whisky  again,  it  puts 
fat  around  delicate  internal  tissues.  A girl 
who  has  plump  cheeks  from  the  use  of  arsenic 
has  also  a “ plumpness  ” around  her  kidneys, 
fat  over  her  growing  ovaries  and  inmeshing 
the  tiny  cells  of  the  liver.  Fatty  degeneration 
of  these  organs  takes  place  for  which  there 
is  no  remedy. 

All  headache  medicines,  such  as  antipyrine, 
are  not  only  dangerous,  but  will  ruin  a com- 
plexion; bring  out  pimples  as  certain  as  the 
sun  shines.  The  habitual  taking  of  any  kind 
of  bromide,  bromo  seltzer,  bromo  quinine,  and 
all  the  other  kinds  of  advertised  “ sedatives,” 
will  cause  a peculiar  rash  not  only  upon  the 
face,  but  upon  the  body.  I frequently  see 


122  CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


girls  in  shops,  stores  and  even  in  the  high 
schools,  whose  faces  tell  the  story  of  some 
kind  of  drug-store  “ treatment.” 

Lately  there  has  come  to  the  surface  another 
kind  of  patent  medicine  fake  which  is  apt  to 
fool  the  most  open-eyed.  This  is  one  you  all 
know  of  but  not  about.  It  is  that  kind  of 
advertisement  which  has  nothing  to  sell.  It 
purports  to  be  the  outpouring  of  some  philan- 
thropist’s heart  who  wishes  to  do  something 
for  his  suffering  fellow  man — or  generally 
woman.  You  see  he  has  nothing  to  sell — don’t 
want  your  money,  simply  spend  thousands  of 
dollars  every  week  to  tell  you  how  to  get  rid 
of  “ that  uncomfortable  feeling.”  No  matter 
what  is  the  trouble — house  care,  worry  over 
your  studies  or  “ who  sent  me  THAT  valen- 
tine ” — liver,  womb  or  rheumatism — it  is  all 
the  same;  just  go  to  your  druggist  and  get 
these  simple  remedies  and  take  as  directed. 

Then  follows  the  prescription.  At  first 
glance,  yes,  at  the  second,  you  or  your  mother 
read  the  simple  home  remedies  such  as  tinct. 
rhubarb,  olive  oil,  simple  syrup,  extract  of 
quassia,  etc.,  and  think  that  such  a recipe  must 
be  harmless  and  certainly  good.  The  adver- 
tisement tells  you  just  to  get  your  druggist  to 
fill  the  recipe.  Well,  how  can  there  be  any- 
thing wrong  with  such  harmless  and  free  ad- 
vice? But  you  will  see  inserted  among  all 


WITH  GIRLS 


123 


these  harmless  and  simple  and  well  known 
remedies,  some  such  direction  as  “ two  ounces 
of  badum  ” or  “ tinct.  of  fulum,  original  pack- 
age.” Now  you  see  the  nigger  in  the  woodpile. 
The  whole  scheme  is  to  get  you  to  purchase 
the  fake  “ badum.”  This  is  distributed  among 
the  druggists  and  when  you  go  to  pay  the  bill 
you  find  that  the  simple  prescription  is  an  ex- 
pensive one.  The  druggist  tells  you  that  the 
“ badum  ” is  a very  expensive  ingredient.  It 
probably  costs  the  fakers  a few  cents  and  is 
simply  sugar  of  milk  or  some  equally  harm- 
less and  legally  allowed  drug. 

Don’t  kiss  anyone  but  your  mother  and 
father. 

Don’t  forget  that  flies  are  the  most  danger- 
ous germ  carriers  we  have,  and  don’t  buy  or 
eat  anything  which  has  been 'exposed  to  flies 
and  street  dust. 

Don’t  have  any  pity  for  the  flies  or  insects — 
kill  them. 

Don’t  be  a giggling  girl.  The  practice  of 
giggling  will  certainly  develop  those  tiny  skin 
muscles  in  a way  to  make  your  face  show  some 
kind  of  distortion. 

I remember  a young  girl  who  was  brought 
to  me  for  her  constant  habit  of  giggling.  It 
had  grown  into  a habit  and  really  looked  like 
a case  of  hysteria.  But  because  I told  her 
mother  it  was  a form  of  hysteria  and  should 


124  CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


be  treated  as  such,  she  became  offended  and 
took  the  girl  elsewhere.  I saw  the  girl,  or 
rather  woman,  when  she  was  twenty-four  years 
of  age,  and  recognized  her  by  the  peculiar 
conformation  of  her  face.  It  was  the  face  of 
a girl  giggler.  Her  facial  muscles  had  be- 
come so  developed  by  her  uncontrolled  girlish 
habit  that  nothing  could  be  done  for  her.  I 
felt  sorry  for  the  young  woman,  for  she  had 
grown  to  be  a very  charming  and  estimable 
one,  who  was  constantly  embarrassed  by  an 
expression  of  contempt. 

Good  laughter,  a hilariousness  which  has  for 
its  cause  a real  sense  of  humor,  is  beneficial 
to  everyone.  Such  expression  of  humor  gives 
motility  to  the  face  and  develops  a pleasing 
appearance. 

Don’t  swagger  around  in  public  nor  attempt 
to  thrust  yourself  forward.  A modest  girl 
will  not  let  herself  become  prominent  in  public 
places.  Dressing,  acting  or  talking  in  any  way 
to  attract  undue  attention  will  soon  ruin  a 
girl’s  reputation. 

Now  a little  about  corsets  and  a good,  supple 
and  attractive  figure.  I have  no  objections 
to  corsets  as  corsets,  but  every  phj^sician  knows 
only  too  well  that  a growing  girl  is  injured 
beyond  repair  if  she,  at  the  developing  stage 
of  her  life,  compresses  in  any  manner  the  in- 
ternal organs.  Really,  this  is  about  all  there  is 


WITH  GIRLS 


125 


to  this  corset  question.  If  a woman  has  reached 
full  development  with  lungs,  ovaries,  kidneys, 
all  the  pelvic  organs,  having  had  full  play  and 
room  for  their  growth,  the  proper  wearing  of 
corsets  will  not  do  her  harm;  nay,  they  will  do 
more,  they  will  be  a source  of  comfort  to  her. 
Moreover,  such  a woman  will  not  lace  too 
tightly  because  always  having  had  full  play  of 
her  lungs  and  other  internal  organs,  she  will 
be  distressed  if  they  are  too  tightly  confined — 
their  own  needs  and  development  send  her 
warning  when  she  has  gone  too  far. 

But  it  is  sadly  different  with  the  young  girl 
who  has  from  fourteen  years  or  even  from 
sixteen  years  of  age,  worn  corsets  made  for  the 
full-grown  woman.  Every  inch  of  a girl’s 
waist,  all  the  region  of  the  pelvis  and  the  upper 
portion  of  her  body,  should  be  absolutely  free 
from  any  pressure.  Just  take  a little  growing 
twig  and  tie  a string  around  it.  Next  year 
you  will  see  a deep  constriction.  The  follow- 
ing years  you  will  notice  that  the  twig  does 
not  grow  well,  that  the  sap  cannot  run  freely 
up,  that  when  it  does  blossom,  the  blossoms 
are  poorly  nourished  and  lack  the  luster  of  its 
unconstricted  companions. 

Dress  so  that  there  is  no  pressure  upon  the 
pelvis  or  around  the  lungs.  Try,  when  you  have 
on  one  of  these  modern  coats  of  armor  now  made 
for  the  fat  or  thin  woman,  the  deep  breathing 


126  CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


exercises  I have  recommended.  You  cannot 
go  through  with  the  exercise. 

Oh,  but  you  say,  we  take  off  those  corsets 
when  we  take  the  exercises.  Certainly,  but 
when  you  gird  yourself  up  again  and  squeeze, 
punch  and  groan  while  getting  into  one  of 
those  “ can’t  sit  down  ” things,  you  are  un- 
doing all  the  good  the  exercises  have  done. 

Let  your  clothes  hang  from  the  shoulders. 
Shoulders  were  made  to  carry  weights,  the 
waist  and  the  pelvis  to  carry  and  protect  the 
greatest  force  in  nature — the  power  of  mother- 
hood. 

If  you  knew  that  when  you  grew  to  full  de- 
velopment you  would  have  to  be  a carrier  of 
wood  or  water  upon  your  shoulders,  that  this 
would  have  to  be  your  career,  would  you  go 
to  work  and  place  some  constriction  or  in  some 
way  injure  the  growth  of  your  shoulders — do 
something  which  would  prevent  you  from 
doing  what  you  were  born  to  do? 

Of  course  not.  Well  then,  take  the  best  care 
of  your  pelves  and  their  contents.  Give  them 
exercise,  shape,  health,  beauty,  by  letting  them 
grow  unrestricted.  You  may  not  know  it; 
but  the  condition  of  a woman’s  pelvis  tells  in 
her  face.  Broad  hips  mean  happy  and  pain- 
less motherhood.  Early  constriction  of  the 
lungs  and  internal  organs  means  a miserable 
existence  for  a woman,  married  or  single. 


WITH  GIRLS 


127 


Early  constriction  of  the  body  means  lack 
of  bust  development.  This  means  that  your 
little  baby,  so  hungry  for  its  mother’s  milk,  will 
have  to  be  artificially  fed. 

Don’t  think  that  there  is  any  other  way  of  a 
complete  bust  development  than  freedom  of 
bodily  action  while  growing.  Those  adver- 
tised things  are  more  than  useless;  they  are 
positively  injurious.  You  can  never  have  the 
ability  to  nurse  your  child  if  you  fall  into  the 
hands  of  these  criminal  advertisers  of  “ bust 
developers.” 

I have  now  outlined  in  a cursory  manner 
the  main  facts  in  modern  physiology,  which,  if 
you  allow  to  sink  into  your  memory,  will  make 
for  a life  of  perfect  health.  Don’t  think  that 
life  is  all  pleasure  or  all  misery.  It  is  a happy 
combination.  Happy  because  all  our  burdens 
are  for  a purpose,  and  when  these  purposes  are 
well  understood,  the  burdens  cease  to  be  real 
burdens,  but  tasks  whose  outcomes  are  seen 
to  be  pleasure. 

The  real  reasons  for  so  much  misery  among 
girls  and  women  is  unhealth,  rather  than  ill 
health.  Unhealth  is  avoidable;  so  is  much  ill 
health.  You  all  know  how  and  why. 

I have  said  little  to  you  about  morals  be- 
cause when  a girl  is  in  perfect  health  she  is 
moral.  By  this  I mean,  perfect  mental  health, 
as  well  as  purely  physical. 


128  CONFIDENTIAL  CHATS 


Let  me  explain.  A girl  has  good  physical 
health,  she  is  also  in  good  mental  health,  hence 
she  is  morally  healthy.  She  has  had  good  home 
instruction — but  not  as  thorough  as  is  now 
needed — and  has  no  uncontrollable  evil  thoughts. 
Some  of  her  companions  tease  her  upon  her 
moral  nicety.  One  day,  with  a party,  she  is 
persuaded  to  take  a glass  of  beer  or  champagne. 
She  takes  another.  Well;  she  loses  her  chastity. 
Bad  girl,  immoral  girl?  Not  a bit  of  it.  She 
fell  because  she  was  not  MENTALLY  in 
good  health.  What  injured  her  mentally? 
The  beer  and  champagne.  They  will  do  it 
every  time. 

Don’t  touch  theml 

Don’t  think  that  you  know  more  than  your 
mother  about  what  is  best  for  you.  You  don’t. 


Books  by  William  Lee  Howard,  M.  D. 


Plain  Facts  on  Sex  Hygiene 

Dr.  Howard  here  reveals  in  its  naked,  unsensational 
truth,  the  frightful  havoc  that  is  being  wrought  by 
the  inroads  of  the  great  Black  Plague,  destroying 
innocent  women  and  children  as  it  penetrates  un- 
checked and  uncontrolled  into  the  life  of  our  nation, 
because  of  prudery  and  a false  modesty  that  would 
avoid  any  discussion  of  the  most  insiduous  diseases 
known  to  the  medical  world. 

“Intrinsically  one  of  the  most  important  books 
ever  written.” — A clergyman. 

“A  copy  of  this  book  in  every  home  would  result 
only  in  good.” — New  York  Independent. 

Confidential  Chats  With  Boys 

A knowledge  of  these  “Chats”  will  send  your  boy 
out  into  the  world  with  a practical  working  founda- 
tion for  keeping  morally  and  physically  clean. 

Confidential  Chats  With  Girls 

“Dr.  Howard’s  work  is  praiseworthy  in  every  re- 
spect. He  goes  at  the  heart  of  the  problem,  writes 
directly  and  fearlessly,  is  wise  in  his  counsels  and  pre- 
sents his  facts  always  in  the  light  of  their  tendencies.  ” 

Price  $1  Net*  each.  Descriptive  leaflets  free. 
EDWARD  J.  CLODE,  156  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York 


eke  a 
1.00  net 


